Philosophy, Deceit, and the Regrets of a Monster
by MenialLabor
Summary: The Mercer siblings inexplicably find themselves within the magical land of Equestria. One of them is enthralled by the wondrous nature of the world around them. The other is holding back both sensitive information and a murderous blood lust, and is also not technically the other's sibling.
1. Pretending

What makes a human, human? The first and most obvious answer would of course be biology, but suppose you were philosophical about it like most humans tend to be.

Blacklight stared down from his rooftop perch, watching the surviving Manhattanites go about their business desperately trying to forget about the outbreak. But they can't forget. Even if the memory wasn't so fresh in their minds, the complete lack of dense traffic and common sight of empty streets would quickly remind them. They act like everything will return to normal, but Blacklight knows better.

The city is a husk.

Yet they go on, and it makes you wonder what keeps them going. Perhaps their own philosophical notion of humanity helps them. Sitting with deep thought, losing themselves on mental trains that lead to nowhere. What makes a human a human? The optimistic would say spirit, soul, ambition, that sort of thing. The pessimist might say the capacity to be corrupted, which is also fair. After all, humans are the only, er, were the only sapient creatures on the planet. A nonsapient creature cannot understand the difference between right and wrong, and therefore cannot be corrupted in such a way.

But what is right and wrong? Such a subjective way of defining morality. The average human believes killing is wrong, but Blacklight isn't human. Blacklight thought he was human, but he thought wrong. Blacklight thought he had a name, a face, an identity, a sister, but he thought wrong. He thought he was Alex Mercer, but instead he was DX-1118 C, Blacklight.

What do you do with yourself when you suddenly find yourself lacking every possible definition of humanity? Blacklight looks human, but that is a convincing façade. When Blacklight thought he was human, he breathed. He blinked, he even bled because he thought that's what he was supposed to do. He panted from running even though he felt no exertion, simply because he was afraid of what it would mean if he didn't. He jumped from water, believing it would suffocate him, when in reality he could so easily walk across the bottom of the ocean.

Biologically, he is the farthest thing from human. Technically, he isn't even defined as a living being. A simple mass of assimilated infected flesh twisted into the image of the late Dr. Alex Mercer.

Blacklight stood up from his perch, still staring down at the humans so painfully unaware of his presence. No less than a month ago he would have jumped down and devoured those hapless Manhattanites simply to gain additional mass. He didn't have morality. He didn't have qualms about ending so many innocent lives and passing them off as collateral damage. He wasn't human, and still isn't.

He saved them though. He saved all of Manhattan, or at least what remained of it. He sacrificed himself, or at least thought he did when he used to believe he could even die. Why? A sense of honor, of atonement for the countless sins committed? A monster seeking redemption in himself? Simply because so many innocent men, women and children were about to get reduced to dust, and he couldn't let that happen? Blacklight sincerely wishes he could say one of those were true.

But that would mean he thought like a human. Had a conscience like a human. Had remorse and sought atonement… like a human. But Blacklight isn't human.

He saved the island because of Dana. Dana Mercer, biological sibling of Alex Mercer. She doesn't know about Blacklight. She doesn't know about how he was never really her brother, or how her brother died hoping to damn the whole world, her included.

Blacklight is not related to her in the slightest. The only being Blacklight was even slightly related to was Elizabeth Greene, and he tore her apart from the inside out and devoured her alive. Despite this… Dana is different. Despite how illogical it was, despite how it made no sense, Blacklight loved Dana. She is the closest thing he ever had to family.

He loves her, but she can't know the truth. It would only hurt her, probably worse than it hurt Blacklight. To be betrayed… he knew how much that hurt. She didn't need to feel that.

Blacklight isn't human. He doesn't have a conscience, or a moral compass. He doesn't have to breathe, to blink, or to bleed. But he'll pretend. He'll pretend for Dana.

Blacklight cast a lingering glance to a Manhattanite that had noticed him below. A biker, no older than twenty years old, was staring at him with a mix of awe and fear. Blacklight's biomass reserves are a little bit under what they should be. He supposes he could jump down and consume the biker before he could even react, but that would be inhuman.

Blacklight promised himself to pretend to be human.

So he pretended he left the boy alone for no other reason than the goodness of his nonexistent heart.

Because that's what he's good at.

Pretending.

-0-

LCD lighting glints in the silver-blue iris of the woman as she types with expert precision upon the laptop.

Her short red hair is unkempt and neglected, her lips chapped from lack of moisture. Her skin is seemingly snow white in the dark when the laptop's light shines upon her.

She's dressed in a loose white t-shirt, a size too large for her. She wears grey sweatpants and black pink-striped socks. Her toes curl under the desk as she concentrates on the contents of her computer screen.

Dana Mercer is a very talented investigative journalist. She has, in the past, broken into top secret government files from remote locations and has proven capable of hiding her every trace.

That is to say, she got into her brother's computer inside of her friend's apartment. She was rather disappointed by the lack of porn that she could have potentially ribbed Alex for.

Dana, with this experience under her belt, is locked in concentration. Her eyes never leave the shining light of the laptop screen. She is using her mastery of computer security systems to…

Find YouTube videos of her brother.

As it turns out, that was surprisingly difficult. Most of the previously posted videos of Alex had been taken down by what she assumes is the government, and the others are proving quite difficult to find.

It's easy enough to find little writings about him on the internet, but he's treated as an urban legend. They, of course, don't know his real name, and have taken to calling him 'MoM', or the Monster of Manhattan. Of course most of the people interested in this are twelve-year-olds who write CreepyPasta. It makes finding a legitimate story rather difficult.

Dana was genuinely interested in seeing her apparently super-powered brother in action. As fuzzy and terrifying the memories of the big infected ape thing were, (hunters, Alex calls them) she caught glimpses of Alex _literally_ jumping over skyscrapers. Of course, she was being knocked around in that big thing's grasp so much, so maybe what she saw wasn't exactly accurate. But she was moving _fast_, and Alex was keeping up. Even when she was dizzily being thrown around in a relatively still manner, it was still hard as hell to see anything clearly. She saw Alex fighting off some of the smaller ape things with a giant fucking _sword_ for an arm, but that was brief.

Dana sighed as she leaned back on her chair. That was the second time she saw Alex in action. The first time was when she was being arrested by Blackwatch. She shivered when she remembered how Alex had punched that soldier so hard his fist literally impaled him. Through his body armor. _Jesus that was a lot of blood._

She gets some info on what he does from some obscure forums of people who had supposedly seen him fighting the military, but some of that just sounds far-fetched. Things like throwing a fucking **tank** like a softball to knock a helicopter out of the sky, or how he apparently bisects entire crowds of people with a single swing of his arm. Some even theorize that the nuclear explosion that happened offshore (Lots of dead marine animals and birds. Not to mention cancer and radiation poisoning galore for pretty much the entire west side of Manhattan.) was targeting him as he was apparently trying to escape quarantine. But that's ridiculous. _Nothing can survive a fucking nuke._

Dana's seen a few videos with glimpses of Alex in the background, usually bounding across rooftops like the entire city is his bouncy castle. She, however, questions the legitimacy of these videos as well, as they are really shitty in the quality department. _How is it that every time someone tries to film an urban legend, their camera is out of focus?_

She supposes that she can just ask Alex what he's capable of herself, but she doubts she'll receive a straight answer. That and frankly, the way he told her the people he killed are "in him" freaked her out. He never really explained what he meant by that, so for all she knows her brother is a soul eating demon or some shit. The fact that many 'Monster of Manhattan' stories feature him tearing people apart with tentacles like some kind of Lovecraftian horror doesn't really help. Of course, like all of those stories, they could be bullshit. But even bullshit has to come from somewhere. She has, after all, seen and even requested him to change his arms into all kinds of useful missing kitchen implements. She'd never seen tentacles though.

Dana knows that he can disguise himself as other people, but she only saw him do it a few times. Once while getting the two of them in this apartment complex, and the other times were when strangers come to her apartment door and tell her that they're Alex. She's never seen him change disguises, but she imagines it looks a lot like when he grows giant claws out of his hands. Wiggly, writhy, and a little bit nauseating.

Dana grunted and closed every open window on the laptop. Her brother has been pissing her off lately, because she knows for a fact that he knows a helluvalot more than she does, and he seems completely unwilling to share. Always dodging the question or answering in a way that answers absolutely fucking nothing and snaking around like he has so many fucking secre-

"I'm home."

"Jesus fucking-!"

-0-

Blacklight nonchalantly walked down the isle of the store. To his right was a massive freezer isle, filled with various packaged meat products and refrigerated fruits and vegetables. His feet clacked on the white tile flooring as he pushed his shopping cart wordlessly.

He was wearing the face of the late Jeremy Delacruz, a twenty-three year old Caucasian bachelor with short blonde hair and a clean shaven face. He died about a month ago when his date was rudely interrupted by Blacklight snatching him from his patio seat and devouring him while attack choppers accidently shredded his potential girlfriend with gunfire aimed for the human-shaped virus.

Apparently Jeremy was nervous about his date going wrong. Blacklight muses that it could not have gone wrong any more spectacularly. At least it wasn't his fault the date went wrong. Well, actually it technically was, as he chose an outside seating arrangement, and if he chose to eat inside he and his date would probably still be alive. How unfortunate.

Of course, he was wearing dating attire at the time, which isn't something you go shopping in. Blacklight had simply shifted his biomass to form a pair of jeans, a white T-shirt and a pair of generic black shoes.

Blacklight sighed and shifted his footing as he looked at the various selections in the halls. The two human actions have no purpose to one such as him, but he needs to stay convincingly human in front of the store cameras. No need to compromise one of his unattached identities by walking about without breathing and standing stock still like a robot when not on the move, despite Blacklight's preference for such. It's the subtle actions that end up being the most convincing, after all.

He inspected his cart to find various ingredients and junk food as per Dana's request. Figuring it enough, he began the trek towards the check-out counters. He didn't like shopping, but he refused to let Dana go in his stead with the infection still lingering, and the government still looking for her. He could order the groceries to be delivered like many Manhattanites, but that would involve someone coming to their apartment. Blacklight didn't like that. Not one bit.

One thing that carried over from Alex to Blacklight was his paranoia. After all, the delivery boy could be an infected carrier, or a Blackwatch sleeper cell. Not very likely, but it _could_ happen. Blacklight wasn't about to lose his sister again just because the chances of something bad happening were unlikely therefor to be ignored.

So obviously, shopping was left to the nigh-invulnerable man-eating monster-in-human-form to do.

Besides him, Blacklight noticed, there were only about six other customers within the building. Another example of how dead the city has become. Where you once had to shuffle awkwardly past overweight mothers with squealing kids in the isle or patiently wait for two shoppers blocking the isles doing nothing but talking to move out of the way, you now only had to deal with overbearing silence and the strangely loud echoes of your own footsteps, and the footsteps of those prowling for groceries a few isles away. Considering the size of the building and the amount of stock that very obviously never sells out anymore, Blacklight estimates it will take about two weeks for the place to go out of business.

Alas, poor Fairway Market; built with Manhattan in mind, it was economically unprepared for the sudden death of 80% of the city population.

Not that any of that concerned Blacklight.

He arrived to the checkout, and immediately recognized the young blonde girl working the register without even looking at her nametag.

Jessie Letourneau. He knew her name because Blacklight had consumed one of her old boyfriends, who had joined the military (bad timing) right after highschool. Because of this, Blacklight knew this girl much more intimately than he should, such as the fact that she is severely arachnophobic and has a scent fetish.

Blacklight, of course, kept this information to himself. It's not as if it's compromising in his hands anyway. Even if he wasn't completely disgusted by any form of organic reproduction and technically genderless, it wasn't as if he was going to be gossiping about the memories of people he literally ate.

She greeted him with false cheer, something perhaps only the more observant would catch. Judging from the wrinkles under her eyes and the dull look in her gaze, Blacklight would guess that she had lost someone to the infection and was trying her hardest not to show grief. Or perhaps she just hates her job so much that it has just made her dead inside. Blacklight briefly wondered if she would even mind of if anyone would notice if he just consumed her mid sentence. He quickly dismissed the thoughts, however. Humans don't have thoughts like that; monsters do. Alex promised himself to pretend to be human. For Dana.

Blacklight exchanged his own formalities while patiently waiting for her to ring up and bag his groceries. She did her job with practiced ease, while Blacklight took out his wallet.

His wallet was made of biomass, as were the contents of his wallet. All of it perfectly replicated from biological mass. From appearance, texture, and durability, you would never guess it was made out of repurposed human flesh. While Blacklight _could_ imitate perfect dollar bills with his biomass and use those to pay for things, he figured it would not be a good idea to put dollars made out of Blacklight-infected biomass into circulation, even if all his particular variant would do to someone if they were infected is cause nearly instant death. Blacklight instead simply took out a perfect copy of Jeremy Delacruz's credit card.

Blacklight wordlessly slid the card through the little checkout machine, entered the proper pin number and signed with Jeremy Delacruz's signature. He put the false credit card back into the false wallet, which he then put back into his jeans. The second it was out of sight, the wallet and its contents were broken down and absorbed back into Blacklight's body.

With the transaction complete, Blacklight bid Jessie Letourneau a good day. The two milk gallons would probably make the feat moderately heavy for a human male with the size and physique of Jeremy, but Blacklight could pack thirty tons on his shoulders and feel all the strain a normal human might feel from carrying a twenty pound bag of dog food. That's without even shifting additional mass into his arms and legs, which usually doubles and sometimes quadruples his strength depending on his method.

It was safe to say that the seven grocery bags were not heavy to him. At all.

Blacklight walked out the front of the store, and started down the mostly empty sidewalks. Only a few cars passed him, quite unlike the endless stream of vehicles (the majority of which were taxies) that he saw a month ago. He supposed that Redlight is dying out not only because of a lack of leader, but also due to the fact that there are not nearly as many crowds to infect. People are no longer regularly in close proximity of each other, so it makes sense that the virus has become rather isolated.

That's probably a small comfort to the Manhattanites; the virus dying out because it already killed almost everybody. Blacklight was a little confused, however, by the people's attempts to keep a normal schedule. They still went to their jobs and their previous engagements rather than staying home. It's interesting to see an entire city of people (or what's left of them) in denial. They drive to work and worry about trivial matters like everything is the same, completely disregarding that the world, especially Manhattan, will never be the same after the outbreak.

But once again, none of this concerned Blacklight.

Blacklight continued walking down the sidewalk in a straight line before turning into a concealed alley. Once he was comfortably out of sight, Blacklight changed.

With a flick of thought, the 'skin' and 'clothes' on Blacklight rippled and writhed like he had suddenly became a liquid. The textures and colors bled away from him, as his entire shape began to mold and shift constantly, barely holding onto the silhouette of a man. His body lost detail and turned into a writhing mass of black and red biomass, tendrils forming, connecting and breaking for an indiscernible purpose.

The head seemed to settle first, revealing a grey hood covering a pale face with piercing silver-blue eyes. His torso and arms formed next, revealing three layers of clothing. The first was a white partially unbuttoned dress shirt, the second was a partially unzipped grey hoodie, the previously mentioned hood up, and the final layer was a black leather jacket, with twin white stripes around each arm and an indistinct red tribal insignia upon the back. His legs formed, revealing faded jeans and black laceless 'loafer' slip-on shoes.

He continued to hold the groceries through the short process.

Blacklight wore the skin of the late Dr. Alex Mercer, the sociopathic genius who had created and released him upon the world. The disguise was the closest thing Blacklight had to a true form; his very first victim. There was a time when Blacklight believed himself to be Alex, and would feel more… at home within his form. Now, Blacklight feels empty regardless of disguise. The feeling was akin to one who frequently travels; like the home you have strolled into holds no significance and will be left behind in the end anyway. If anything, Alex's form was the worst disguise he had. Alex is dead, and everyone knows it, yet everyone recognizes the Monster of Manhattan by the iconic appearance. The military can identify him on sight in the form, and when he wanders onto the streets while looking like Alex, people either (stupidly) turn hostile or (smartly) run away.

At the same time, Blacklight felt that he should wear the form when he doesn't care about being inconspicuous. It's not like he would be hard to identify if he suddenly began running up walls and chucking cars in any other form. Having a consistent 'battle' form at least made the enemy expect him to look a certain way, whether or not they knew of his shape shifting abilities.

Well, and the disguise happens to be Dana's brother. That was one role Blacklight was not so hasty to shed.

His entire existence is made of lies to protect the one truth that matters to him; the affection he holds for his 'sister'.

Without a word, Blacklight leapt straight up into the sky. He quickly found himself on the roof of a five story building, startling some man who was on the roof having a smoke. Blacklight didn't spare him a glance, as he quickly sprinted towards the other end of the roof and leapt again.

Blacklight was thankful that he had not bought bread. It would have been crushed by the other groceries at the velocity he was travelling.

-0-

After several minutes of inhuman parkour, Blacklight came to a stop in another secluded alley, where he swiftly changed his appearance again.

His appearance rippled, and Alex Mercer's likeness was immediately replaced with the visage of a young bearded brown-haired man. Oliver Ramos was his name. The apartment Blacklight had bought for his sister and himself was in Oliver's name, so he always walked into it under his guise.

He walked out of the alley, and quickly walked across the street where the apartment building was located. Bumping his way through the door, Blacklight gave a noncommittal grunt to the front desk's greeting as he passed. As usual, Blacklight ignored the elevator and took the stairwell. He climbed four stories before opening the door out of the stairwell and walking down the hallway.

Blacklight finally came across his apartment number. He stood in front of a sturdy tan wooden door with the number 406 written in brass at eye level. He looked down at his loaded arms. He doesn't carry a key, and he can't pretend to reach into his jacket to create a replica while his available arms are loaded down. Blacklight cautiously looked down both ends of the hallway, before sprouting a small black tendril from his midsection. The tendril shot towards the lock of the door, formed a perfect replica of the apartment key, and entered the lock. A quick turn and a deft push with the tendril later, and the door swung open.

Sometimes being a malleable mass of other people's infected flesh is rather useful. Both arms full? Sprout a new appendage.

Blacklight walked into the apartment, closing the door behind him with the formed tendril before the extra appendage retracted and formed back into him. With a flick of thought, he swiftly morphed back into the visage of Alex Mercer.

The apartment was medium sized and rather nice for the price he had bought it at, though prices don't really matter to one who both sees no value in money and also has a virtually unlimited amount of it. Most of the apartment flooring was covered in dreary dark green carpet, while the walls were an unusually bright shade of brown. Blacklight always figured that the colors clashed, or at least the interior designers he had consumed seemed to think so. However, Dana and the sapient weapon of mass destruction never really gave much thought into interior design.

The apartment was largely barren, with the living area that was right at the entrance being void save a small television and a lumpy couch colored a charming shade of 'piss yellow' as Dana had so eloquently put it. A large portion of the room was cut off by counters and floored with white tiling, the counters holding several appliances that meant little to Blacklight, clearly the kitchen. A small oaken table with cheap-yet-classy oaken chairs around it was close to the kitchen area, marking the dining area. In the middle of these two areas was a hallway that led to two doors; one of which led to Dana's room, the other led to Blacklight's woefully underused room.

Blacklight walked into the kitchen, putting the bags he was carrying on the counters before opening the refrigerator and the pantry. He then, without moving from his spot, began methodically sprouting versatile blunt tendrils and sending them to grab various groceries and putting them in their designated space. He heard Dana's laptop keyboard tapping, so he knew he could do this quickly without her walking in and getting freaked out.

Soon, everything was put away, and the plastic bags left behind were swept into the garbage with a remaining tendril, before all of his extra limbs retracted into him.

He then began walking down the hallway to Dana's room, which had a slightly open door with light shining out of it.

He brushed his way into the room. The room had the same green carpeting and brown walls, with a simple bed with blue covers and a computer desk complete with a swivel chair, which was currently occupied by Dana, who was on her laptop that Blacklight had bought for her. She couldn't use his laptop anymore, as it was destroyed when the Leader Hunter took her. Blacklight shivered in the memory of that unacceptable failure.

"I'm home." He said.

Dana immediately jumped out of her seat, spinning around to face him. "Jesus fucking Christ, Alex!" She shouted, holding a hand to her chest. "You scared the hell out of me!"

Blacklight frowned. He hadn't been trying to be quiet; he could have sworn she would hear him. If he wanted to remain undetected, he could easily make absolutely no noise whatsoever, considering he has no need to breathe and he can change the material of the bottom of his 'shoes' to a sufficiently soft material so his footsteps aren't heard.

"Sorry." He offered.

Dana made a 'brr' sound, shuddering her shoulders in an exaggerated manner. "You're like a fucking ghost, sometimes." She said, brushing past him and walking out the door of her room. Blacklight wordlessly followed her out into the hall.

"Seriously, would it kill you to fucking knock on a door, or something?" She asked as they walked into the kitchen. "Oh, and did you remember the tortilla chips?"

"Yes." Was the straightforward reply. Blacklight omitted the fact that he couldn't forget anything even if he wanted to.

Dana hummed in response while she opened the pantry, rummaging through their supply of non-refrigerated food.

Dana insisted that Blacklight couldn't cook. This was probably because the Alex she knew was inept at the culinary arts, so Blacklight figured it best to let her believe that. While he had already explained that the people he killed are a part of him, he was very vague about it. She didn't seem to get that he literally _consumed_ people and absorbed everything about them, and he intended to keep things that way for the sake of her views on his humanity. He really didn't want to explain to her that the reason he became so good at cooking was because he devoured a few retired master chefs (and a few who were still in the business).

Really, it was hard for Blacklight to think of a skill he hadn't mastered due to the number of people he's consumed. He can do anything from piloting a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, to writing a unique 3467 line advanced PL/S code. Yet rather comically, Dana believes he is incapable of operating a stove.

Dana retrieved the unopened bag of tortilla chips from the pantry, before opening the refrigerator and retrieving a jar of salsa. She has a preference for spicy food, Blacklight had long since figured out.

Blacklight remained silent, watching his sister set up a light snack. He was wary of saying anything, as she had slightly furrowed brows and was clenching her jaw. He knew from experience that this meant that she is angry, and she will either say she isn't angry or tell him a false reason if he asks. Blacklight figured the best way to find out what is making her mad is to wait until she tells him herself.

-0-

Manhattan's rooftops were almost always clear ever since the outbreak. Even if the urban legend known as the Monster of Manhattan wasn't known for bounding across roofs like he has rockets in his heels, many learned their lesson when the more 'evolved' infected began to appear. They enjoyed climbing up the buildings and ambushing prey from the roofs, and they tended to first clear the roof they were ambushing from of civilians with extreme prejudice.

Most would assume the large 'ape' creatures were the ones who tended to do this, though this was false. They did not often dwell far from the epicenter of a particular infected zone, and they were not ones for subtlety. Most Manhattanites have never seen one and lived, and those they did see usually came with sightings of the Monster of Manhattan, as he is the only reason they would go so far from their hive.

The infected that stalk the rooftops are known for their speed. They are capable of scaling buildings startlingly quickly, and keeping pace with speeding vehicles. Despite their speed, they are still only a bit more durable than an average human being tends to be. In groups, they like to use their speed and numbers to quickly overwhelm groups, while a few evolved would rather remain undetected and attack singular targets.

Contrary to popular belief, those who are infected are not entirely animalistic. They retain some examples of human intelligence, no matter how far and few between these examples are.

For instance; the group of four evolved standing upon a rooftop looking through the window of an apartment which holds the infamous Monster of Manhattan within seem to know that the element of surprise is key when dealing with a target significantly stronger than they are. They also seem to understand limited squad tactics, with some of the evolved infected taking positions on other rooftops waiting for the others to make a move.

However, that is where their intelligence ends. Were they more intelligent, they would understand from experience that they could not so much as even annoy the Monster of Manhattan, even if he remained perfectly still and didn't fight back. Any being with common sense would know better than to attack the Monster of Manhattan with anything less than an army at their back, and even with the army they would attempt to avoid the encounter at all costs.

But those infected with Blacklight are not known for their understanding of common sense.

-0-

Dana dipped a chip into salsa, held in a small plastic bowl on the coffee table in front of the yellow couch, or the piss-couch as she likes to call it. She then threw the chip into her mouth and began chewing.

Despite not looking in her direction, Blacklight could sense this with clarity that would stun any human in his metaphorical shoes. It's amazing the kind of information you can gather by simply being sensitive to the air around you. A shame human skin is not the same way.

Dana was watching some reality show about teenagers. Blacklight knew Dana wasn't really watching it; her eyes glazed over the way they are. She's thinking about something. Probably about the subject that has seemed to have slowly frustrated her more and more over time.

He was beginning to wonder if he should say something.

"Uh-"

"How strong are you?" Dana cut him off.

Blacklight turned to see all of Dana's attention on him. He took a moment to articulate a sufficiently intelligent response.

"What?" Social interaction outside of a set role to imitate is startlingly difficult.

"I mean, like, what's the heaviest thing you've lifted? I know you've got super strength and all that like some kind of comic book superhero, but I've never really been clear on how strong you are."

Alex knew what she meant the first time. He just really didn't know how to answer. He doesn't actually know the limit of his strength, just like how he doesn't actually know any of his limits. He wants to run faster? He tries harder and just like that; he runs faster. Want to be stronger? He tries harder and he's stronger. Limits aren't really a measurable value for him as they are constantly changing. He supposes the heaviest thing he's lifted was a hive he uprooted from the ground as a personal test of strength. That involved sprouting many elongated tendrils to latch all over the building to get a solid enough grip for the feat, whilst sprouting several more to shred any infected that tried to get close enough to interrupt him.

Really, what was he supposed to say? Surely Dana knew enough about physics and the human body to know that if he were human performed the feats of strength he does almost daily, the sheer force being exerted by himself would rupture any organs within him and grind his own bones to dust. Humans simply aren't meant to be as strong as he is.

He ultimately decided to play it relatively safe.

"I lifted a taxi over my head once." Not really a lie. He's done so with countless vehicles. He often used cars as projectiles against military vehicles and particularly difficult hunters. He once threw a refrigerated truck half way across Manhattan in an attempt to hit a distant helicopter. It was a bullseye.

Judging by the stunned look on Dana's face, he provided the wrong answer.

"You lifted. A car. Over your head." Shit.

"It uhh, took a lot out of me." He offered. That was a lie. He could juggle several taxies all while sprinting faster than a sports car up a ninety degree incline and he would not feel exerted in the slightest. Even during the first few minutes he was awake, he was capable of picking up a car effortlessly and throwing it with enough distance and velocity to bring a helicopter out of the sky. Saying it took even a little bit out of him would be nothing short of a complete lie.

"Jesus Christ Alex. You're like fucking Superman! You talk about lifting a fucking **car** over your head like it's no big deal!" Dana ranted. Blacklight had to disagree with the Superman comparison. He was nowhere near as noble as the fictional character is depicted, and he is pretty sure that he wasn't strong enough to pull a planet out of orbit. He kept his musings to himself, however, as he was pretty sure the original Alex was not an avid reader of comic books.

The woes of being an information sponge that absorbs peoples' memories and experiences; he once accidentally ate a comic book enthusiast and now he knows countless trivia about fictitious characters. How annoying.

"I… thought you already knew I could do stuff like that." He tried.

"Yeah, I figured you were super-strong and all that, but I figured it would be a little more… realistic. Like you could lift a car a few feet off the ground like those dudes in the Strongman competitions only without all the massive bulging muscles. I didn't think you could _literally_ lift a fucking car over your head!" She said, animatedly gesticulating above her head.

Blacklight didn't think he said or did anything too wrong, but the way Dana was speaking to him made him feel like a jackass for some reason. The men he consumed seemed to believe that all women had a special talent for this sort of thing. The women he consumed seemed to proudly agree with that notion.

"I mean, is that even supposed to be possible? Can a human skeleton even support the weight of a car over it?" Oh no. This is what he was afraid of.

She's going to ask how, and somehow she would figure out that he doesn't actually have a skeleton, or organs for that matter. From that she would figure out that made him technically not human, and technically not alive. From there she would find out that he is technically not her-

"Ah, screw it. All this talk of defying physics is making my head hurt. Can you get me a soda?" She asked, shaking her head.

The resulting sigh of relief that Blacklight repressed would have had enough air pressure behind it to shatter the bones of an elephant.

Blacklight wordlessly complied, getting up from the couch making an audible creak as his weight was lifted from it, and walking to the kitchen.

He heard something.

By the time he turned around, they had already broken through the apartment windows.

Six of them. Evolved. Humans mutated beyond recognition, with large tumorous growths used as makeshift armor. Some of their limbs were twisted into impromptu weapons as if to imitate Blacklight's methods of weaponization.

Dana was screaming. They had locked their eyes on her form. They were so fast. They would already be on her by the time Blacklight even flinched.

Dana was screaming.

Dana was in trouble.

Dana is threatened.

Dana.

Is.

**Threatened**.

Somehow through strange chance, the panicked flickering of Blacklight's very biology activated something buried deeply within his ever-changing genetic makeup.

In a literal flash, everything suddenly stopped making sense.

-0-

_My brother can lift a car over his head._

That thought would not leave Dana's head for even a minute. Her brother was literally a comic book superhero.

Then she thought for a moment. _He's always going out doing what I assume to be dangerous stuff involving the military and the infected. Is he bulletproof too?_

Really, he being bulletproof would explain a lot. Also open up quite a few questions as to how that is even possible, but it would also explain why he's so careless when it comes to military personnel and his own safety. Obviously he's got some kind of resistance, if those dumb internet stories about him are anything to go by. She doubts he can survive a tank shell to the face, however. She saw how quick he is, so he would probably just dodge such an attack.

She decided to ask him if he's bulletproof and was about to call to him from the couch when suddenly the windows broke with a deafening CRASH!

"Holy shit!" Dana cried, jumping back to her left and scrambling out of the couch. She faced the place the windows were previously just in time to see the horrific former humans dashing towards her like bullets.

Dana then did the thing any sane person would do when faced with a bunch of roaring, horribly mutated ultra-contagious super-zombies that want nothing more than to rip you apart.

She screamed. Loudly.

Things only went downhill from there.

The entirety of her vision flashed white just before one of them was on top of her, and suddenly everything stopped making sense.

The sensation of being pushed through a very, very thin tube overwhelmed her, twisting her stomach and disorienting her more than she had ever felt before. Considering she experimented with acid back in college, this was quite a feat.

When the white left her vision, she could barely make out colors. Everything felt like it was spinning and she felt like her stomach was suddenly filled to the brim with boiling water. Her heartbeat was the loudest thing in the room to her.

Until she heard it.

A bestial roar louder than anything she had ever heard before.

With her limited locomotion, she managed to move her arms to cover her ears, only to unceremoniously roll off of the couch she was unaware she was still occupying due to lack of balance. She clenched her eyes shut when sunlight invaded her sensitive vision. The bestial roar ended, but many more scary sounds soon followed.

The unmistakable moaning and screaming of the infected. Alex. Alex is getting torn apart! Get up! Get a lamp and… hit something! Your brother needs you! Super car-lifting and sword-arm-shifting powers or no, there had to have been at least five of them!

Before she could even think about getting up, she lurched forward as her stomach disagreed with her. She heard the sound of gurgling and vigorous slashing and slamming, but could make out little else.

Then all was quiet.

Save her own nauseous moaning, of course.

"Dana!"

She was suddenly unceremoniously turned to lie on her back as her vision continued to swim.

"Dana! Are you okay!?"

_Alex! Alex is alright! What happened to the infected? _She tried to voice her thoughts.

"Al- bluhh." Came from her mouth instead.

Dana's vision finally stopped swimming enough to make out the form of her brother's head, still in that stupid hood looking no worse for wear. Her vision focused enough to see the concern in his strangely reflective eyes.

"Never…-_urp_ - better… What… The fuck… Happened..?" Dana's heart lifted a little bit to see Alex's relieved smile. It makes her feel little again, like back when the two of them were surviving the wrath of their poverty-stricken mother. Her brother's comfort and concern made those years bearable.

_Whoa, I'm out of it. I'm getting nostalgic after almost getting eaten by zombies._

Alex lifted his head and looked around, as if their surroundings changed. She could still see the apartment roof above him. What is he looking at?

He looked back down at Dana, his gaze one of confusion. "I… don't know what happened. Can you-"

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence and looked to his right, akin to a dog that heard a dog whistle.

"Wait here." He said, before suddenly dashing out of her vision.

"Alex wait I- what the fuck!?" She called out, confused and a little offended. What the fuck had he heard? Does he have super hearing too? She is going to ask that after he gets back.

As she struggled to get her bearings and sit up, she noticed something else she would have to ask her brother when he got back.

Like why was a section of the apartment cut away?

And why is their apartment in the middle of a forest?

"When did my life get so fucking weird?"

-0-

Brandon Hinze was having a good day, all things considering. Good days are hard to come by after the outbreak, so he was determined to enjoy it.

He met a pretty girl today, finished up payments for his car, and even got a pizza to celebrate.

Pizza; the New York experience condensed into a cheesy treat. It would take more than a measly apocalyptic viral outbreak to break down the Manhattan way of life. Come Hell or high water, Brandon would enjoy his pizza while sitting back and complaining about the rest of the world whilst watching television. Like a true Manhattanite.

These were the thirty-three-year-old man's goals as he walked down the hall to his apartment, pizza held with both hands just to make sure he wouldn't drop it due to his own clumsiness.

Then he dropped the pizza, and his day was very swiftly ruined.

He didn't drop his pizza due to clumsiness, or anyone bumping into him. No, he dropped his pizza because a flash of light and a tube-squeezing sensation later, he was too disoriented to even tell which way was up.

Or he was, until there was suddenly a… thing right on top of him.

Then in a snap, perhaps from pure adrenaline, his vision cleared.

The person straddling him had somehow crashed through the hallway wall, as the hole behind it proved.

Then he realized the person's massive red tumorous growths distorting its features, the red-tinged foam in its mouth, and the pain of elongated over sharp fingernails in his side.

It was about at that moment that Brandon screamed.

In his panic, Brandon threw a wild swing at the infected man, clocking it in the jaw hard enough for it to jump away from him. Standing over his prone form, the creature was ready to finish the job-

When a giant serrated black whip suddenly shredded its way through the wall behind the creature, slicing the creature's arms and upper torso into pieces. Brandon once again screamed bloody murder as the blood of the former human drenched him.

Brandon then looked up, and realized that the wall that had just been sliced through by the black thing was the only thing supporting the ceiling, as the other side of the hallway seemed to cease to exist after the flash.

In a series of movements too quick for his hazed adrenaline filled mind to follow, he somehow rolled out of the way of the collapsing roof, and found himself on blood-spattered grass.

Brandon didn't even question the change of scenery, as he simply got up and sprinted into the forest that had appeared in front of him, hoping to get as far away from the infected as possible.

In his panic, he didn't consider that getting scratched by the infected man and then getting drenched in his blood would infect him. His only goal was survival at this point, his mind having dropped all other forms of logic.

So ran he did, unsure of where exactly he was going. He simply _ran_.

He ducked under low hanging branches, scuffing himself up as he scraped through thorny bushes. He was so pumped up on pure survival adrenaline he didn't even notice the scratches.

What he was becoming increasingly aware of was the burning sensation spreading from the claw mark in his side, seeming to burn particularly 'hot' in his major arteries. Every heartbeat, he felt like lava was being pumped into his veins. His mouth was inexplicably dry, his eyes becoming dry as well, making him blink more often.

Even as his rationale was returning, he didn't pay it mind. Be it denial or the fact that he knew that the infection took at least a day to show symptoms, he believed that at least these things were unrelated.

For some reason, though, an overwhelming sense of euphoria was overcoming his other senses. The run felt more joyful, the burn in his veins becoming pleasant. He was laughing, to him, whimsically, to any other listeners, hysterically.

He could see a light. The tree line!

-0-

Fluttershy wasn't having the best day. It wasn't a bad day, per say, but she can't really classify it as a good day when a big scary flash comes from Everfree Forest and scares all her animals.

Angel was still clinging to her leg, shivering. Her animals, the poor dears and the poor deers, had mostly scattered and hid upon the big light.

Fluttershy was worried. Everfree Forest was known for its odd occurrences and uncontrollable weather, but that wasn't thunder. Even if it was, her animals would not react the way they did. It's almost as if they know something she doesn't.

-Not that she holds it against them. They can keep whatever secrets they like. Fluttershy doesn't like being nosy.

Fluttershy had just finished convincing Angel Bunny to let go of her foreleg when the strangest creature came from the tree line a little ways away from her cottage. At the sight of any other strange creature running out of the scary forest laughing hysterically, she probably would have bolted into her cottage and hid under her bed. But this one was covered in b-blood.

The creature was clearly sapient, if the clothing was anything to go by. They looked nice- they must have been very expensive to make. The being looked like a… minotaur of some kind. But ooh what was she doing? She was just sitting there criticizing the poor creature's appearance when she should be helping! Bad pony!

She was about to go to the creature, still laughing hysterically -it must be delirious, poor dear- when it suddenly hunched over and dry heaved.

Fluttershy was half way to the creature when it suddenly began vomiting profuse amounts of blood. Fluttershy's eyes widened, and her wings locked in terror of the gruesome spectacle. Buts he steeled her resolve, still determined to help the poor dear before it is too late.

The creature stopped vomiting blood, settling for gasping and shivering violently. Fluttershy took one step towards it when its gaze snapped up to her, its tiny eyes bloodshot and unfocused. It was, much to Fluttershy's horror, grinning widely. Fluttershy once again cursed her own cowardice, freezing in terror at the poor dear's pain. One last time, she steeled herself and took another step.

Then a black serrated tendril flew from the depths of Everfree and _speared_ through the creature's torso.

Time slowed down for Fluttershy as she watched chunks of flesh and bits of what seemed to be ribs erupt from the being's chest. The blood -so much blood- seemed to gush from the wound as the creature choked and gripped the emerging part of the tendril futilely, the mad grin never leaving its face as if its facial muscles were locked in that position. It choked and hacked as a waterfall of crimson flowed from its mouth, bits of who-knows-what flowing right with the blood.

The creature was then dragged by the tendril back into Everfree, leaving a large red trail. As soon as it left Fluttershy's sight, all she could hear was stabbing and slashing sounds, then silence.

Fluttershy stared ahead blankly, her face pale, her eyes wide and her pupils pinpricks. She almost felt like her jaw was touching the floor.

She then promptly lost consciousness.

Had she remained awake for just a few more seconds, she would have seen a creature similar to the first, this one wearing a hood, step out of the forest into sight.

-0-

Blacklight was very confused and concerned.

Confused because somehow a large section of the apartment building, particularly the section containing he and his sister's apartment, had suddenly been transported into a random forest that he did not recognize through unknown means.

Concerned, because the man he had just chased down and consumed was infected just under a minute ago and was already at the final stages of infection; complete memory loss and dementia. Blacklight could tell; he had consumed the man and didn't even get enough information to draw his name up.

Meaning an infection that is supposed to take a day or two to manifest had manifested within fifty seconds.

That is very, very bad.

Blacklight walked from the tree line, extending tendrils to run along the ground and absorb all of the blood the man had spilled on the ground. He was not about to risk anything.

Blacklight looked to his left, to see a very hobbit-esque cottage with many animals surrounding something, all with expressions of worry.

He creased a brow in confusion at that. These animals are **very** expressive. That… is not normal.

He didn't contemplate it further, as he had other things to worry about. Like a very confused very **vulnerable **sister probably waiting for answers.

Oh, and he left a bunch of mutilated infected corpses, so he should probably get there before she-

Blacklight paused the thought with a deadpan as he heard a girlish scream echo from the forest.

Too late then. Blacklight sighed despite having no need to breathe.

'_This is going to be a fun conversation_' was his last thought before he sprinted back into the forest towards his sister.


	2. Unknowns

Dana Mercer had always figured that she had been desensitized to things like gore due to internet overexposure.

However when she was hunched over a bush, dry heaving because she had already vomited up everything her stomach had to offer after seeing what used to be the infected that attacked her strewn all over her apartment, she decided that maybe seeing gore in real life was a little different.

And smelly.

Dana shivered as she looked back at the wreckage that used to be her living space.

It looked like a massive chunk of building was just ripped from a city and just plonked down in some random forest. Which is pretty much exactly what happened, as far as she could tell. Three of the walls were still intact, the ceiling was mostly in one piece, and the floor seemed to be alright as well. However the wall that was ajar the hallway of the floor had collapsed, taking a large chunk of ceiling with it. It looked like some kind of massive blade just swiped through that entire wall and shredded its supports. She and Alex's room appear to have been left behind, leaving a hallway entrance that leads to nowhere but more forest. She could see the entire interior through the broken windows which she climbed out of.

The most distressing thing about what remained of her apartment was the bodies strewn about. Or at least, what was left of them. She couldn't even tell how many there originally were due to the sheer number of _pieces_ lying around. Almost everything was covered in blood, except for the spot she was in miraculously. Even the piss-couch was ruined. She never thought she would miss that horrible pigment, but it looked rather good in comparison to a couch that was stained brownish-red and covered in viscera.

One of the former infected looked like it had just been mashed into the floor like a giant stepped on it, its insides seemed to have been literally squished out of it. There was one with no arms or a lower body, as well as its jaw ripped off. There was half of a forehead just sitting on one of the kitchen's counters like they were preparing it for dinner. Speaking of dinner, there was a dead infected on the table, both of which had been cut down the middle like some kind of fucked up magic act gone wrong. The sight was gruesome enough, what with the viscera slowly sloughing out of the former human's midsection, that Dana averted her eyes to the ceiling of the apartment.

Speaking of the ceiling, there's blood on it. Not speckles like you'd expect. There was literally blood **caked** on the ceiling. The ceiling is pretty damn high for Manhattan apartment standards, requiring a stepladder for her to touch it whilst reaching. So to get that much blood on the fucking **ceiling** seems pretty fucking improbable.

There was so much blood everywhere, yet the last time she saw Alex he was completely clean. How the fuck did he manage that? How the fuck did he manage any of this? How the fuck did he get blood caked on the **fucking ceiling!?**

Dana gagged, holding her stomach as she looked away from the carnage.

"Jesus titty-fucking Christ what the fuck." She moaned.

…She never even got her soda.

_Speaking of her soda, where the fuck did Alex g-_

"I'm back."

"FUCKING WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?" Dana shouted, spinning around on her heel and stumbling backwards. Alex was standing right fucking behind her!

"Jesus shit Alex! Really!? Really!? Of all fucking times to sneak up on me!?" She shouted at him while he cringed guiltily.

"…Sorry."

"Why the fuck are we in a forest!?"

"I don't-"

"Why the fuck does it look like you reenacted that lawnmower scene from Dead Alive in our apartment!?"

"Because I-"

"Why the fuck don't you have any blood on you but there's blood literally everywhere else!?"

"Uh-"

"What the fuck happened!?"

All was quiet for a moment, with Alex awkwardly hunched in place like he was expecting to be slapped.

"I... don't know, Dana." He answered softly.

Almost a minute passed in silence. Alex seemed to watch Dana's face closely for some reason she couldn't fathom, while she looked around, taking special care not to look in the direction of the carnage of what used to be her apartment.

"I'm sorry." She said.

"It's oka-"

"No, it's really not. I mean, you protected me, with extreme prejudice I might add, against those… things. And here I am bitching about things out of our control like they're your fault." Dana shook her head and sighed.

"You don't have to apologize for anything Dana. You shouldn't even be in this situation." Alex said. Dana looked at him to find he was glaring at what remained of their apartment. It was an expression of mixed confusion and anger, clearly directed at their situation in general.

Dana shook her head and smiled. She felt like she was going to go to hell for thinking this, but she thought that Alex was a lot more likable after he got amnesia. Ever since he left for college when they were kids, he was just such an aloof condescending douche. It was like a switch was flipped and he wasn't her brother anymore.

Even when she came to Manhattan to reconnect, he was still an asshole. Just making demands of her, milking her for help. She followed along hoping that he would eventually warm up to her, and act like he used to when they were kids.

Then he got amnesia, and just like that her big brother was back again. A lot more violent than he was before, but still so sweet to her. Just like when they were kids back in foster care or with their mother. He would always be there to protect her, and he would always be patient.

Even after not having a clue as to what happened, slicing up a ton of fucking crazy infected mutants, and being stuck in the middle of god-knows-where being yelled at by his sister, he still remains calm and protective.

Without warning, Dana lunged towards Alex and wrapped him in a hug. She couldn't see his expression, but his posture suggests that he was surprised by the action. He gingerly returned the hug, though she couldn't help but notice how lightly he was squeezing her back, almost as if he was afraid of crushing her.

Also, he was very, very warm. Seriously, like a fucking furnace. She thought leather was supposed to be cool to the touch, not warm enough for you to assume it had been sitting in the sun for a while.

Dana reluctantly released the hug, seeing her brother give her an awkward yet happy smile. Dana couldn't help but smile as well. No matter what happens, she still has her brother.

Dana pondered if having a touching sibling moment after seeing a crapton of infected people get mutilated makes her weird.

She turned her head back to the carnage he wrought and grimaced.

"I can't believe those used to be people…" Dana whispered.

"They weren't people anymore." Her brother said.

"But they used to be…"

Dana's expression was somber. She had to wonder what it was like from their perspective. Being an ordinary person, and suddenly everything that makes you _you_ is stripped away, leaving nothing but an animal. That sounds like a fate worse than death.

"They used to be just regular people. They used to have families and friends."

Dana sighed.

"I wish I knew what fucked up monster was responsible for this shit getting out. Whoever really did it is probably dead, but fuck I wish he wasn't so I could… I don't know, sic you on him."

"You and me both." Alex mumbled.

Dana looked at him oddly. _The way he said that…_

She shook her head. "Should we bury them?"

Alex turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

-0-

Twilight Sparkle was beginning to wonder why she was even surprised anymore. Honestly, things had gotten too normal since that whole time manipulation thing and the Dragon Migration. It was only a matter of time before something strange or exciting (or worse, strange **and **exciting) happened.

It started in the morning. Twilight woke up, started going through her morning checklist with Spike, when Pinkie arrived at her door. Not an uncommon occurrence, what with Pinkie being… well… Pinkie. Honestly some the reasoning for her visits just get bewildering, and Twilight had long since stopped questioning her logic and just ended up enjoying her company while she stayed.

Pinkie, however, was apparently on a mission. She had one of her "doozy"s followed by a "pinchy knee", and she was going door to door warning everypony with her scarily inequine speed. If Twilight's memory served, that meant something both scary and unexpected was going to happen soon.

Of course, something scary and unexpected happened soon afterwards. A gigantic, soundless flash was seen somewhere inside of Everfree Forest, followed by reports of strange animals howling and roaring. Then everything just went quiet.

Twilight had just gotten done sending a letter via dragonfire informing Princess Celestia of this occurrence, when a certain butter-yellow pegasus wandered into her library tailed, or rather, eagerly shoved by a legion of small animals.

An assortment of squirrels, bunnies, chipmunks, beavers and several species of bird were soon standing in front of the library's door. The ground-dwelling creatures crowded around Fluttershy's hooves, while the birds landed on any part of her they could stand on. Every animal present looked absolutely terrified, even that deplorable little rabbit Angel Bunny, while Fluttershy just looked confused, and maybe a little pale.

Twilight and Spike looked at each other, before Spike shrugged and started for the stairs. Twilight rolled her eyes and approached Fluttershy and her agitated animals.

"Fluttershy? What's wrong with your animal friends?" Twilight decided to ask. She could guess what the cause to their terrified visage was. She had heard many animals had gotten spooked by the "Everfree Flash" as some of the townsponies were calling it.

"Oh Twilight, I'm sorry for bothering you but Angel was very insistent-"

"It's okay Fluttershy." Twilight interrupted. The shy pegasus tended to go on apology tangents if you let her. "Is this about the flash that happened earlier?"

"No. Uh, wait, I mean yes! Umm, wait… maybe?" Fluttershy lowered her head, looking sheepish, before seeming to look to her pets for an answer. A few chitters later and Fluttershy looked back up, assured. "Maybe." She nodded, smiling nervously.

"…Okay? What's the problem?"

"Well, um, I don't remember much, but I woke up lying in the grass, and my animal friends were very scared." Fluttershy's eyes flicked back and forth, suddenly looking anxious. "They said they saw-" She was cut off by an angry chirp from a bluebird perched on her flank. "Oh, uh, sorry. They said **we** saw a… monster."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "We? You saw it too?"

"Well, yes and… no?" Fluttershy looked down at her forehooves. "Uh, they said I fainted. The last thing I remember was calming Angel Bunny down after that scary flash happened and… waking up."

Twilight looked concerned. "What did the 'monster' look like? I might have a book that tells us what it is."

"Well, um, my animal friends were so insistent that I come see you that they never-" She was interrupted by the chittering of the squirrels, beavers and chipmunks at her hooves. "Oh. Oh my." She said, nodding along to whatever they were saying.

"Uhhh… Fluttershy?"

"Oh! Um, it stood on two legs, had a black chitin, a gray head and legs, and a sharp tentacle coming out of its stomach."

Twilight creased her brow. "That… doesn't sound like any creature I've heard of, but I'll look and see what I find."

Twilight was about to look for a book on Everfree creatures, when Angel stepped in front of her, gesticulating wildly.

"Oh, uh, Angel Bunny says there's one other thing." Fluttershy said.

Twilight turned back to Fluttershy. "Yes?"

"Uh, he asked for paper and ink." Fluttershy said, smiling sheepishly.

Twilight blinked, before turning to walk up the stairs to her room. She soon came back down, with a paper, a small bottle of ink, and a quill held in her raspberry colored aura. She floated the items down to Angel.

Angel picked up the quill with a quizzical expression, before tossing it aside. He opened the bottle of ink, dipped his paws into it, and began to draw on the paper.

"He says that symbol was on its back." Fluttershy clarified when Angel finished the crude drawing.

Twilight tilted her head to the side. _What could that mean?_

-0-

Blacklight was beginning to regret not consuming the infected that attacked his sister. Sure, he'd have to explain where the bodies went, but at least he wouldn't have to clean up after himself.

It was a bewildering experience. The thought had never occurred to him that he would ever be cleaning up after one of his fights. He has a newfound respect for whoever does clean up after his messes.

Dana had suggested that they bury the bodies. Blacklight reluctantly agreed because it would both make his sister happy, and reduce the chances of some idiot stumbling across the rotting corpses and getting himself infected. Blacklight didn't know where they were, or if they were on any large continent. The reason the infection was contained in Manhattan was because it was isolated on a small island. If the infection was released on a large landmass, it would be unstoppable.

The experiences that followed afterwards made Blacklight rethink a few things. He amended that perhaps should he, in the future, be in a fight in which he would have to clean up afterwards, he would find less messy ways to kill his enemies.

He had to scrape some of their remains off of the floor of their apartment using his claws.

Obviously, Blacklight did cleanup duty himself. He didn't want Dana anywhere near the corpses, or even looking at them for that matter. Even if he did want her to help, he doubted she would. She simply doesn't have a strong enough stomach, if what he smelled when he came back was anything to go by.

It was only after he had gathered their remains into a passable pile did Dana point out they didn't have a shovel.

So of course, Blacklight had to improvise. He formed his right arm into a simple shovel. This earned him the affectionate nickname "the ultimate Swiss Army knife".

"So when you ran off, did you find out where we are?" Blacklight heard Dana say behind him, as he continued shoveling dirt into the hole.

He looked down into the hole with distaste. He put the most intact bodies in first, and sloughed in the rest afterwards. The result looked like a horror movie pasta. A quick scan through his stolen memories revealed that even a few Blackwatch insurgents would have cringed at the sight, so he didn't blame Dana for opting not to watch him clean up.

Not that he would blame her for anything.

"No, I didn't. There's a small town to the north, but I didn't get a good look at it." In hindsight, he should have at least glanced in its direction. He just saw it out of the corner of his eye.

Perfect memory or no; if you aren't paying attention to something at the time, your memory will not provide an accurate picture as to what it looked like.

He only knew that the town looked disgustingly brightly colored.

"Should we head there?" She asked, before taking a sip from her coke.

Oh, and he finally got her the soda she asked for. She was very thankful.

"Dana, we're wanted by the United States government, and you're in your pajamas." Blacklight pointed out.

She snorted. "So what then? We're going to camp in this dank dark-ass forest?"

"Until I scout out that town, yes." Blacklight said as he hefted another shovelfull of dirt into the grave.

"In my pajamas. You want me to camp in my pajamas."

"Not for very long." Blacklight shrugged.

Blacklight did not want Dana to be in the forest longer than she has to be. It's simply too dark; too concealed. Dangerous things lurk in environments like this.

Blacklight spared a glance around the surrounding area.

If Blacklight wasn't reasonably certain that he was the most dangerous thing in the forest, he might have been nervous. The trees are twisted in appearance, as if some giant hand just came down and started bending them in ways they shouldn't bend. The canopy is thick, the only evidence of the time of day being the large clearing that the apartment had landed in, lighting it up like a giant spotlight was on it. The rest of the canopy was **thick**; beams of sunlight getting through were few and far between. The grass was a charming shade of 'vomit-green' as Dana had, once again, so eloquently named the color.

He also saw a patch of bright blue flowers a distance away. He didn't recognize their type, which was worrisome. If Blacklight doesn't recognize something, you know it had to be obscure. Though the bright colors in a dingy dark place such as this make those plants rather suspect. Bright and colorful things in environments such as this rarely mean anything good. Best to have Dana avoid them.

"Fucking God dammit! My socks are getting soggy just standing in this fucking puke-grass."

Oh, and it was humid, as Dana saw fit to remind him.

Soon, Blacklight had finished burying the infected remains, the only evidence of their existence a patch of dirt among grass.

…And the bloodstained apartment about six meters away from that patch.

"So… we aren't going to be staying in there, are we?" Dana asked, eyeing the splatters decorating the interior.

"…No."

Blacklight formed his right arm back into an average human hand, Dana watching with interest.

"What does that feel like?" She asked.

That was hard to answer. Really, even before he knew what he really was, he always did away with nerve endings. They just provided needless distraction. The way he sensed things was rather unique, with each of his cells being sensitive to their surroundings and the things they touch, including each other. All of the fine control and sensitivity without any of the needless pain to distract him. Describing the sensation would be akin to describing color to someone who has been blind since birth. He doesn't really know how he does it. The biologists in his head are just as bewildered as he is, often claiming such a thing is impossible.

But really, Blacklight's very existence seems to be based upon an amassed amount of impossibilities.

"It's tingly." He decided to go with.

Dana hummed in response, still looking at the drying mess of her apartment.

"I'm sorry, this has been bugging me, but how the fuck are you not covered in blood?" Dana finally asked, turning towards Blacklight.

Shit. He was hoping she had forgotten about that.

The real reason was that any blood that touched him he simply consumed, adding to his mass on the fly. It gave the illusion of blood disappearing as soon as it touched him. Dana was clean of blood because he took special care to not splash her. When the flash happened, it seemed that every single creature present was disoriented except for him. He took advantage of this, by throwing the infected away from his sister before mutilating them.

He could say he was too quick and dodged the flying blood, but that just sounded improbable. Blacklight had to admit that even he wasn't that fast.

He really couldn't think of a passable excuse.

"I don't know." He tried.

Dana raised an eyebrow. "So… what, the blood just disappeared off your body while it stayed everywhere else?"

Dammit. She was using that "you're a jackass" tone of voice.

"Yes?"

Dana stared at him, as if gauging his reaction.

Amazing how Blacklight could stand strong and calm underneath another man's guise and lie to the faces of some of the world's best lie detectors, yet he felt like he was going to melt under Dana's gaze.

"…Alright, another item to add to the 'weird shit that's gone on today' list. At this rate, I'm going to need to write it down." Dana said, throwing her arms up in defeat. Blacklight felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders.

Though Blacklight had the foreboding feeling that the 'weird shit' list was going to get a lot longer before the day was done. He couldn't really explain why.

Maybe that was just him.

-0-

Blacklight and Dana had walked a fair distance to the east, with reasoning that perhaps being near the potent stench of death in an unknown location with unknown predators possibly lurking in every bush wasn't the best idea.

Dana was carrying various bags of junk food in her arms, while Blacklight carried various canned sodas. Blacklight would prefer water, but Dana didn't want him to buy bottled water saying that tap was just as good anyway.

For obvious reasons, tap water can't be retrieved when the tap has been disconnected from a water source.

The junk food was Dana's choice, as pretty much everything else they had was canned. The selection ranged from simple chips, to more exotic chips with Spanish brand names, to some strange little gummy candies and other such things.

Eventually they came across a small, sunny clearing. Blacklight critically examined it.

There were plenty of escape routes, as well as a good view of the area. He judged that by sitting in the middle of the clearing, you would be able to see a predator stalking long before it could jump you. Blacklight nodded to himself, before setting the sodas he was carrying on the ground in the rough center of the clearing.

"Huh? What are you-" Dana was asking before he cut her off.

"I'm going to scout out that town I saw earlier. You stay here, keep an eye open, and scream if you need me. I'll be there as quickly as I can." Blacklight swiftly explained.

Dana gave him an understanding nod, before sitting down next to his discarded sodas.

"Hey, I wanted to ask this earlier. Do you have super hearing?" She asked.

Blacklight raised an eyebrow. He supposed that a human could have superb hearing, and honestly that was one of his least impressive advantages over humans. No harm in letting her know about that.

"Yes." He responded simply.

"Alright, cool. Please don't take too long. This place gives me the fucking creeps."

With that, Blacklight sprinted towards the north.

Admittedly, Blacklight is used to the wide open spaces and heights of Manhattan, but he was able to adapt to the close, cramped quarters of the forest pretty quickly. He was capable of weaving through branches at inhuman speed, only smashing through particularly troublesome branches when absolutely necessary.

It wasn't long before Blacklight had found the forest edge. He slowed down, gracefully weaving through more branches before coming to a stop just within the forest for extra precaution. He already saw the ever-so-colorful town in the distance. He quickly focused his eyes far beyond that of human capability.

…

…

"What the fuck." He stated flatly.

Now, understand that Blacklight is not one for talking to himself. He only says what absolutely needs to be said most of the time, and only when others are around to hear it. So when he is absolutely certain that no one can hear him save himself, and he says "what the fuck" despite knowing such, then you know something truly what-the-fuck worthy is within his line of sight.

On another note, it should be understood that Blacklight is incapable of hallucination. What he sees can be trusted as fact, and he has complete and absolute faith in his own senses.

What he saw shook that faith.

Now how could one such as Blacklight, one who had arguably seen it all and commits impossibilities on a daily basis, ever be so stumped as to question his own sanity?

The sight of a civilization run by clearly sapient equines, some of which being mythical in appearance.

What the fuck, indeed.

Visibly shaking his confusion away, Blacklight decided that questioning the existence of something right in front of him does no one any good. Making use of himself, he decided observation would be key.

They were small; about half as tall as a human being on average, with some exceptions. Brightly and diversely colored population, he found difficulty finding two that had the same color scheme. They had large, expressive eyes and small snouts. The wide movement range of their mouths confirmed that they were speaking, which was rather strange. Equines traditionally cannot even breathe through their mouths, let alone speak. It's a literal physical impossibility.

But he supposed that was one of the small impossibilities in the face of the much larger, more glaring ones he had suddenly discovered.

There are three types he had observed. 'Unicorns' named for, surprise, the blunt horns placed in the middle of their foreheads. 'Pegasi' named for the wings they possessed, referencing to Greek mythology's god of horses, Pegasus. Finally, there were the 'Typics', named for their lack of wings or horn and their resemblance to normal horses.

Now, the pegasi had very small wings and not very aerodynamic bodies. It should be impossible for them to even lift off the ground, yet Blacklight saw them flying at dizzying speeds and performing aerial maneuvers that should be impossible for any flying thing of their shape. The unicorns seemed to be capable of utilizing telekinesis, as he saw a few with colored glowing horns, floating things next to them with a similar aura. The typics were, well, they could talk and that was weird enough.

A short session of lip reading and he deduced that they were speaking Greek. Of course, why not. Pegasus is from Greek mythology, why not have an entire civilization of his clones and other impossible equines speak Greek as well?

Blacklight's gaze turned half-lidded. So in summary, he and his sister had somehow been teleported with their entire apartment into a forest next to a civilization of Greek-speaking horses of varying mythological origin. Apparently some of them could move things with their mind.

Shit.

Blacklight thought of the explanative for several reasons. The first being that he was going to have to find a way to explain this to Dana without sounding like a complete nutjob. He quickly filed that mission under the mental folder of 'impossibilities' and moved on. Next, was that he had no idea what these unicorns were capable of, and therefor are unknowns. Unknowns are dangerous, as he has no idea if they pose a threat to him or not. Troublesome.

Third, he decided that he was going to have to make contact with this civilization. His reasoning for such was, if there were mythological creatures in the town, who's to say there aren't mythological creatures in the forest? Mythology is infamous for its frankly absurdly dangerous fauna, so he decided he should play it safe there. Another thing was that even if it was the most peaceful forest in the history of existence, Dana could not last forever in there, with him present or no. She would eventually lose patience and decide to hike to the town that he had mentioned just for the promise of a shower.

But making contact presented a myriad of its own problems. For instance, while Blacklight could speak Greek fluently, Dana could not. He has no idea what their civilization is like nor how they would react to two humans, or if they even knew what humans are. Too many variables, too many unknowns. He had no idea of their abilities, their senses, if they could tell if he isn't human, what they could do to him or his sister, whether or not they already knew he and his sister was there. Too. Many. Unknowns.

He decided he was going to thoroughly scout the town before even thinking about making contact.

But first, he decided to inform Dana of the situation. Get it out of the way quickly.

Rip the bandaid off, as it were.

-0-

Dana sat in the middle of the clearing, her mind blank. She had done too much thinking today, and she was just mentally exhausted. She was about ready to accept anything at face value at this point.

Really, at this point she had just accepted that somehow she and her brother had been teleported in the middle of buttfuck-nowhere. It's a lot less mentally exhausting to just accept things rather than attempt to rationalize them.

She was beginning to understand why idiots always look so damn happy.

So of course in her nearly braindead state, she didn't react to Alex's presence beyond briefly looking in his direction.

When he was a few steps behind her, she spoke. "So did you find out where we are?"

The hesitant moment of silence afterwards was worrisome.

"Uhh, we aren't in the United States." Alex said.

Dana frowned. "That's good, right?"

Another silence. Shit. "Maybe?"

"Maybe." Dana repeated, before sparing a glance behind her. She could see Alex visibly struggle to find words.

Alex seemed to come to a mental conclusion, and he spoke again. "What would you say if I said that the town I saw was populated by sapient horses, varying from telekinetic unicorns to flying winged horses, all of which speak Greek?"

Dana blinked owlishly. "I would ask where the fuck you got the drugs and why aren't you sharing."

Alex remained silent.

"…You're fucking with me, right?"

He still stood there, silent.

"You're totally fucking with me. You grew a weird sense of humor and now you're fucking with me."

That same, unmoving expression of dead seriousness never left his face.

"Stop looking at me like you're not fucking with me!"

It was about at this moment did Dana realize that her brother was, one hundred percent, not fucking with her.

…

…

"Oh, what the fuck."

What the fuck, indeed.


	3. Concerns

Princess Celestia had concerns.

One would think that this goes without saying, but her little ponies, bless their hearts, had a habit of making poor assumptions. While they never bring this up to her in person, many seem to believe that she raises the sun every morn then proceeds to relax and eat cake (curse that tabloid) the rest of the day.

The reality of the situation was that a nation the size of Equestria takes quite a bit of effort to govern. While appointed officials and nobles can ease some of the burden and prevent Celestia's need to micromanage, she still needs to handle a great number of things.

However such things were, at the time, the least of her concerns.

Her concerns were centered around (aren't they always) Everfree Forest, and the recent magical anomaly that was sighted within it.

Really, if the anomaly had just stopped after unknown animals howling, she would just assume the problem (if there was one) would solve itself like Everfree problems usually do. After all, Everfree had a nasty habit of doing things itself.

Then a report of some never-before-seen monster had ruined that.

Everfree has always been strange, but never before had it just spat out some entirely new creature. She'd been around for almost as long as the forest itself, after all. She would know.

Under normal circumstances after hearing of some unknown bipedal betentacled creature, she would immediately send a squad of guards to keep Ponyville safe and discourage any beast from coming too close. However, the report of the creature was vague at best, and apparently supplied by the pets of the Element of Kindness. The letter had detailed that Fluttershy had no memory of the supposed encounter, as she had fainted and apparently gotten temporary amnesia.

Celestia wasn't one to ignore her subjects, no matter how small and animalistic they were, but the evidence suggested that the animals were jumping at shadows. That wasn't to say that she was going to completely ignore the letter though.

Celestia had written a reply warning Twilight and her friends to keep townsponies away from the Everfree for a while, and to send her a letter the second anything escalated.

So the princess then lowered the sun, hoping her concerns would soon follow it below the horizon and out of sight.

It was not to be. After the sun had been lowered and her sister had taken over court, Celestia still clung onto her concerns as she restlessly tossed and turned in her bed.

She had the worrisome feeling that she should have sent a few guards to Ponyville anyway…

-0-

"It smells like cat piss."

Blacklight and Dana stood outside of the mouth of a medium sized cave, Blacklight holding in his arms three six packs of sodas and assorted junk foods stacked high enough to cover his face. The sun was beginning its descent on the western horizon, and Blacklight wasn't about to let Dana sleep outside.

Blacklight nodded. "That's because a cat pissed nearby."

"I figured. It smells _pungently_ of cat piss." Dana clarified, wrinkling her nose.

"It does." He nodded again.

"Cats bury their piss."

"They do."

"So for it to smell this much like cat piss, a very _big_ cat must have pissed. _Recently_."

"Indeed." Blacklight agreed.

"So… maybe we shouldn't go in that cave?"

Blacklight looked at Dana. "Felines aren't cave dwellers."

"Yeah, and unicorns don't exist. We were wrong about one certainty, we can be wrong about another."

Blacklight blinked. That… was a surprisingly logical assumption.

"Fair enough." He admitted. "But there's nothing in that cave right now."

"How do you know- super vision?"

"Super vision." He nodded. Not a lie; his vision _is_ quite super compared to humans.

Dana blinked and shook her head. "Right. But what if this hypothetical cave-cat came back while we're sleeping?"

"I'll stand guard."

Dana turned to him. "All night?"

"I don't need to sleep" _at all _"as often as normal." He explained. He figured this was readily apparent, considering she had never seen him sleep.

She creased her brow. "You know, I read a study online that going without sleep does some bad shit to the mind, even if you aren't tired."

_That is true. It's a good thing my mind is nothing like a human's_, Blacklight inwardly chucked.

"I mean, like" Dana continued. "sleeping is when your brain sorts out all kinds of stuff. It just isn't healthy to go without it, even if you don't physically need it."

While touched by her concern, Blacklight couldn't help but be a bit bewildered that she would assume that her brother, someone she knows is a genius and has a doctorate in genetics, would not know this.

"I'll keep that in mind." He said. "I can handle it."

"Fine. But I'm keeping watch tomorrow night." She conceded, in that 'argue with me and I'll launch a verbal assault the likes of which never seen before' tone. Blacklight was getting good at identifying her tones.

In the end, Blacklight would much rather withstand a hail of missiles launched by Blackwatch than withstand a hail of angry words launched by his sister.

"Alright." He reluctantly agreed. It shouldn't be too hard to pretend to sleep the next night, and he can leap into action the moment something is even slightly fishy. Yeah, he'll let her 'keep watch' the next night. He won't be happy about it though. Sleep deprivation is unhealthy, after all.

Dana sighed and started walking into the mouth of the cave. "I'd better not step in cat piss. That smell will never come out of my socks."

Blacklight followed after, both soda and the assorted bags of junk food still held in his arms.

"Jesus's erect nipples its cold in here! I thought caves were supposed to be warm!" He heard Dana complain while he set his cargo in a secluded corner of the dark cave.

"Cave temperature varies depending on location and altitude." He helpfully told her.

"Great! Now I know! And knowing, as it turns out, was approximately zero percent of this fucking battle!" She raved as she found what Blacklight assumed was a relatively comfortable spot, and lied down curled in a fetal position.

Blacklight frowned. The temperature wasn't low enough to be life threatening, but apparently it was low enough to be uncomfortable. He quickly decided upon a way to rectify the situation.

With a flick of thought, his form changed in unseen ways. He could feel as he sculpted his mass and silently allocated the excess flesh held within the 'leather jacket' back into himself, while he separated the jacket from himself, a difference only he would notice. With the article of 'clothing' no longer attached to him, he swiftly pulled it off of himself, leaving only the gray hoodie and dress shirt.

He wordlessly stepped over to Dana, who was shivering whilst curled up on the floor still.

Because his biomass is always writhing beneath the surface unless he forces it not to, he generates quite a bit of friction, and in extension, quite a bit of heat. He can obviously control his temperature and mimic that of a regular human's temperature, otherwise the military would have been able to easily track him using thermal imaging. He chooses not to lower his temperature when he doesn't have to, as he is stiffer and less agile when he forces his biomass to still. It takes at least half a minute for his biomass to become loose and agile enough for him to move with the same impossible agility he normally has.

Really, the heat had always been a useless side effect. It seemed then that he found a use for it after all.

He placed the biomass jacket on his sister, startling her due to darkness obscuring his movements. The biomass wouldn't do anything detrimental unless he willed it to, and it will continue to subtly generate heat throughout the night. The only reason he didn't make a blanket out of biomass was because Dana would inevitably question where it came from.

If she questions the heat, he can easily say it's left over from him wearing it for so long. If she questions why he himself is so hot, then he can say he had an abnormally high fever ever since he was infected with the 'superpower' virus. Not exactly realistic, but she had been assuming up to that point that his abilities point to his infection giving him superpowers.

He was thankful at least, that being infected with a completely beneficial virus that hands out superpowers was more believable than being literally composed of the stolen flesh of his victims. The longer he thought about the lie, the more improbable it seemed, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was that Dana believed him, and that Dana believed that he was, at the very least, fundamentally human.

"Thanks, Alex." He heard Dana mumble as she curled into the jacket.

Blacklight nodded as if she could see him in the darkness, before turning around and walking back to stand guard outside of the cave.

And so he stood there, motionless like an ever-vigilant golem until the sun rose, wondering what the following day would bring.

-0-

_Darkness. Why is it so dark? Where am I?_

_Where is Alex?_

_I try to stand. I try to move. I can't I can't I can't I can't why can't I move what is happening?_

_Where is Alex? What is that pulsing why is it so warm? Where am I where is Alex?_

_Wait not darkness. A light! Sunlight! Ray of sunlight! A window? Where am I?_

_Where is Alex?_

_Red. So much red. Everything is red. Red with blood? No no no not all blood. What is it? What is it? Meat? Why is it pulsing? Why does it move? Why am I so warm? I can't move I still can't move why can't I move? Why am I pulsing is that a heart why am I so warm!?_

_Where is Alex?_

_It's on me why is it on me oh god oh my god it's on me it's all over me oh my god oh my god oh my god the red stuff is on me!_

_Footsteps who is that? What do they want? Will they help me am I like them what is happening where am I where is Alex!?_

_Oh my god I remember roaring bouncing screaming Alex screaming screaming my name what happened where am I where is Alex!?_

_Footsteps coming closer who is it who is it who is it please don't hurt me please don't don't no where is Alex!?_

_There. There she is its what's her name that college girl from Hope Elizabeth Greene it's Elizabeth Greene what is she doing where am I she is looking at me oh god she is looking at me Alex Alex where is Alex!?_

_Oh no no no she's walking towards me why can't I move why can't I run oh god why does she look like that what is she doing what is she doing she's standing over me she's looking at me why can't I run why can't I move oh god oh my god where is Alex!?_

_She's kneeling over me what is she doing she's smiling why is she smiling her eyes are so dead why is she smiling oh god she's going to touch me why can't I scream why can't I move why can't I run where is Alex why isn't he helping where is Alex where is Alex!?_

_**LET ME FREE YOU**_

_Her voice is echoing everywhere why does she sound like that like so many what does she mean why is she leaning in she's going to touch me don't touch me I don't want this I don't want to die please don't touch me why can't I move why can't I run where is Alex where is Alex where is Alex where is Alex Alex Alex help Alex help me Alex oh my god Alex help me please save me save me save me Alex please save me Alex help me help me ALEX!_

Dana awoke gasping for breath, covered in a cold sweat. She sat up, hyperventilating, her eyes snapping to every corner of the cave she occupied like a terrified animal. She clutched at her erratically beating heart, taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself.

"Holy shit that was intense." She said to herself, taking another shuddering breath. Dana closed her eyes and shook her head vigorously, as if attempting to physically dislodge the nightmare from her mind.

She'd been having nightmares ever since that ape thing came for her and the events that followed thereafter. She wasn't entirely certain what had happened after she fainted in the monster's grasp, as most of her memories were fuzzy as if she wasn't entirely lucid while they happened and had hallucinated them.

She did remember Greene rather vividly, however. Just as fucked up as the images on her brother's computer depicted. She had this bloodstained grey jumpsuit on with a collar that met her chin, covering her neck. It had wires, pumps, straps, and other crap she couldn't really recognize on its arms, legs and back. Her skin was deathly pale, only visible on her uncovered hands and face. She had red splotches on her face, and Dana wasn't exactly sure if they were bloodstains or some kind of rash. Her hair was red, short and uneven, as if it was cut by a young boy.

By far the most unnerving thing about her was her voice. Dana wasn't even sure if she imagined this or not, as out of it as she was in those dull memories, but Elizabeth sounded like she was several people speaking at once. Even long after she had stopped speaking, you could hear echoes repeating what she had said as if someone was right behind you whispering into your ear.

Dana shivered. She didn't know what happened to Greene, but Alex said she had gotten killed sometime during her coma. He said that was why the infection was dying out, though Dana could also wager that the infection was also dying out due to lack of people to infect. What with most of them being dead at that point.

Dana remembers rather clearly the first thing she saw when she woke up after the whole ordeal. An ugly fluorescent light, and Alex's face staring down at her, concerned, still covered with that stupid fucking hood.

It wasn't comforting that she woke up in a morgue, but he said that the morgue belonged to Ragland, the doctor she had recommended him. She couldn't help but laugh at the irony that she, just like her brother, woke up in a morgue after she should have been dead. Key differences being that she still had her memories and she didn't have superpowers.

She would have really appreciated superpowers, though.

Dana sighed and looked at the cave floor in front of her, and the leather jacket occupying it. She must have thrown it off of herself after her violent awakening.

She looked at the jacket with distaste. She never liked his new sense of 'fashion', his fashion being never fucking changing his clothes ever. She actually managed to get him to wear something a mugger wouldn't once, then she took an hour long nap and he was already dressed back in his damn leather jacket/hoodie getup. She just gave up after that.

Really, that was one of the other quirks of amnesia-Alex. She knew Alex would never wear that kind of crap before he woke up in a morgue with no memories, and now he fucking refuses to wear anything else. He said he woke up wearing that getup, and it made her wonder why he woke up after supposedly being dead dressed like a fucking alley rapist.

Speaking of her brother, where was he? She looked up to the mouth of the cave, not seeing him present. She blinked, before standing up and picking up the surprisingly hefty leather jacket in one hand. He's probably just taking a piss out in some bushes.

With that thought, she walked out of the cave. She stood outside, looking around, before a faint whimper caught her attention.

-0-

Blacklight was, despite his rather short violent life, surprisingly patient. He stood still, not moving even once throughout the night.

There were no predators, small animals, or even birds within his sight. It was almost as if they were avoiding him, as if they could sense how dangerous he is.

…Which they shouldn't be able to. Despite not breathing or blinking throughout the night, he gave no detectable sign that he was not an average human. If he was detectable to animals, the military would have wised up and used dogs to detect him. Perhaps it was the unknown that frightened them; after all, most animals fear humans at a glance. But for there to be nothing; absolutely no sign of any wildlife as if they were aware a predator was nearby…

Something was wrong.

Blacklight didn't see, hear or smell anything. Nothing is quiet enough to escape his senses, especially in an environment such as the one he occupied. He was the only viable predator in the area.

He scowled. The animals knew something. It's not that alarming if animals understand his true nature, but it makes him… paranoid.

What if the equine inhabitants of the town he was planning on scouting can sense him somehow, like the animals apparently can? That would… complicate things.

Blacklight wished there was a way to know for sure before trudging into the town with his ever-fragile sister in tow.

Then, as if some higher power was listening to his thoughts, in came a source of information.

It was a few hours after the sun had risen when he had heard it.

"Mí̱laálogo!"

The shout came from a scratchy voice from a distance far beyond the range of human hearing. Blacklight blinked out of pure bewilderment when he translated the statement the voice shouted as if it were a curse.

'_Horseapples'?_

Then he heard a scream, steadily increasing in volume as if it was getting closer to his position. Blacklight averted his gaze to the sky. It was then did he sight the cyan blur rapidly approaching his position, screaming all the way. He tensed, wondering if he should do something.

Then the screaming blur zoomed beneath the tree line, before smashing into the hill the cave his sister was sleeping in was located to the right of his position. He couldn't see where it landed, but it was close.

Blacklight hazarded a glance behind him, to find that Dana had not awoken from the noise. He then glanced around his surroundings, before mentally shrugging. If anything approached the area, he would hear it, as he was fairly certain the equine had crashed nearby.

He then began the short trek to the crash site, ducking and weaving around branches the whole way. He was rather surprised by what he came across.

The site itself looked like he himself just decided to fall from the sky rather than a small winged equine. The canopy had a strangely large hole in it allowing light to shine through, clearly the point of impact. The dirt and vegetation had been uplifted in the creature's path, leaving a large streak of disturbed ground leading straight to the small stone cliff-wall that the creature had impacted.

The creature itself was a previously dubbed 'pegasus' judging by the wings. Blacklight hadn't seen this one before; we was pretty certain that even if he had the memory of an average human he would never forget anything with a literal rainbow for hair. Its fur was sky blue, its mane and tail a rainbow ranging from the colors red to violet in a far too consistent pattern to be natural. A quick aside glance towards its rear confirmed its gender, with its evidence of femininity being displayed with 'her' tail being sprawled away from her the way it is. Momentarily glad he didn't have a gag reflex, Blacklight moved on in his observations.

The pegasus's fur was matted down with dirt and mud from the crash, with clear red scrapes all over her body. Her left front hoof was clearly dislocated, as was her left wing. A gash lied upon her head, slowly trickling blood out of it, the cause of such obvious from the small speckle of blood on the wall she collided with.

Honestly, Blacklight was surprised she was even alive, let alone barely injured (comparatively to what should have happened). He expected a small equine moving at those speeds to be reduced to either an unpleasant stain or a fleshy bag of broken bones and ruptured organs after a crash like that. He clearly underestimated the durability of the creatures.

On the up side, Blacklight finally had a reliable source of information. It was perfect; the female clearly crashed into a dangerous forest, so none of the other inhabitants would look to him or his sister if she suddenly… disappeared after such an event. After all, forests are a dangerous place to be wounded and alone in.

He could easily consume only her head to get the precious memories, and leave a half-eaten mutilated corpse for closure if the natives came looking for her. They'd assume she got picked at by some predator.

He took a step forward, but stopped when the female equine whimpered. He gazed down curiously, seeing her eyes clenched and her muscles tensing in pain. She was still conscious. Barely. That just seemed improbable after a crash like that anything could be conscious afterwards. Blacklight internally shrugged. It didn't matter if she was conscious or not; she wouldn't have a chance to scream regardless of her state of alertness.

Blacklight took another step forward, wearing a genuine grin. Luck was finally on his-

"Alex are you back here? Did you hear- holy shit!" Dana exclaimed as she worked her way through the foliage behind him. His grin snapped back into a frown faster than a human eye could even follow.

_Motherfucking-_

"Holy shit it's actually a- wait, did you do this!?" Dana was next to him, gawking at the sight of the apparently ex-mythical creature. Blacklight turned to give Dana a flat look at the question, before gesturing to the upturned dirt and the hole in the canopy.

Dana blinked. "Oh. I suppose I should have- wait no fuck that. You weren't fucking with me!"

Blacklight looked at Dana with a half-lidded expression. "I thought we had established that."

"We did but holy shit it's actually a fucking horse with wings! And it's got fucking rainbow hair! Mane! Whatever!" Dana said, dancing in place like a child, before suddenly stopping with a creased brow. "Wait, is it dead? Please tell me it isn't dead; I've seen way too many dead things recently and this little guy is too cute to be dead."

Blacklight was about to answer before a pained moan erupted from the small equine answered for him.

"That didn't sound like a horse sound." Dana stated the obvious. "That didn't even sound like a guy sound and-" She stopped, her eyes widening. "Wait didn't you say that they were sentient!?"

"Sapient." Blacklight corrected.

"Same difference- whatever- look!" The virus frowned. Sentient and sapient are not even close to synonymous. "We have to help her!"

Blacklight nodded his head, internally grumbling at the loss of his meal. He shouldn't have stopped to gawk. Opportunity missed.

He vowed not to hesitate should another such opportunity present itself.


	4. Human

Dana had recently learned many things.

What things are those you ask? Well first off, apparently pegasuses (pegasi?) are really lightweight. Like, really really lightweight. She hunched over expecting to have to call Alex to help her, then she just lifted the pegasus up as if she weighed only like thirty pounds. Second; if her brother ever tells her something completely unbelievable, she should believe him, because his woefully underdeveloped sense of humor is incapable of being exercised. Third; apparently dislocated joints are easier to fix than she thought.

Yeah, she knew of Houdini and how he would pop his shoulder out of place and pop it back in all the time in his big escape acts, but she had figured that some level of knowledge was required about the joint you were popping.

So what does Alex do? The minute Dana drops the unconscious impossibility (Apparently she passed out. Really, it was amazing she was conscious in the first place.) on the cave floor, Alex just waltzed over and fucking jammed her crooked wing back into place like a fucking terminator. She would have been impressed if she wasn't fretting over how much he could have fucked up right there.

And what does he do in the middle of her shitfit? He just goes and does the same damn thing to her left foot-hoof-whatever. You could hear an audible cringe worthy POP.

So after Dana was done with her shitfit, Alex calmly explained he knew what he was doing. Which sounded pretty fucking unlikely in her book. Because geneticists know all about dislocated limbs, right? But she accepted it.

So there they stood. Over the unconscious pegasus, wondering if they should do anything about her scrapes and her head wound. It wasn't like they had disinfectant, and she doubted the head wound needed to be bandaged unless it was copiously bleeding, which it wasn't.

But Dana doesn't know shit about medicine, so she could be wrong. She didn't think it mattered too much. The pegasus didn't look like she was in critical condition unless she had internal bleeding. If she did, then there wasn't anything Dana or her brother could do about it.

…She thinks.

_I always thought that damn health class elective in high school was pointless. Now I'm paying for ditching. Fuck._

_Though I really doubt they had a class on how to treat an injured pegasus._

Dana sighed. "So now what?" She asked, looking to her left towards Alex.

"We wait." He said simply.

She couldn't argue with that. Not much else they really could do.

She figured, at least, that the pegasus's misfortune would end up in their favor. How better to introduce yourself to a populace than helping one of the locals?

Dana looked over her shoulder to the mouth of the cave, just outside where she had dropped Alex's leather jacket while she looked for him. She glanced back at Alex, and marveled at how different he looked without that damn thing on.

He looked… thinner. Normal. The jacket always bulked up his appearance and made him look menacing. Without it, he just looked like a grumpy teenager. Being twenty-nine years old, he probably wouldn't appreciate that observation.

The hood still made him look a bit scary, but the effect was severely diminished without the jacket.

Dana hummed with thought, before reaching over and brushing Alex's hood off of his head. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow, but she ignored his reaction. She noticed his hair was still short and a little curly, but it seemed a lot darker. It used to be brown, but looked almost black to her. His hair didn't seem to have grown at all, but she dismissed that thought. _Probably cuts his hair with his crazy knife-fingers,_ she mused. _I wonder if he shaves that way too…_

"Uh, Dana-" She interrupted his sentence by reaching towards his upper abdomen, grabbed the (unusually warm) zipper of his hoodie and zipped it all the way up, and grabbing his white dress shirt collar and folding it the way it was supposed to be.

Dana took a step back from him, and nodded approvingly. Now he looked less like 'I'm going to mug you' and more like 'I might mug you but it's unlikely'. That was an improvement.

"Why did you-"

"Imagine getting knocked unconscious and waking up to see some creepy dude in a hood staring down at you. Does that scream 'friendly' to you?" Dana explained. Alex stood there with a blank expression, before his expression morphed into a grumpy scowl. The kind of scowl that said 'you're right but I don't like that you're right'. Dana loved that particular facial expression. It usually meant victory.

"Fair enough." Alex conceded, before walking towards the mouth of the cave. She was going to ask where he was going, before she saw his stride going straight for his discarded jacket. _Oh hell no._

"And get rid of the fucking jacket!" She called.

Alex stopped and looked back with a bewildered and almost offended expression. "Why?"

Dana sighed. Wasn't he supposed to be the genius of the two? "One, because it makes you look fucking scary." She pointed out. "Two, because horses are vegetarians-"

"Herbivores." Alex corrected.

"-whatever. Shut up. Listen. Horses are vegetarians," Alex frowned with displeasure. "so that means they don't kill for food. That means that the idea of killing an animal, eating it and making clothing out of its skin might be a little fucked up in the society of midget horse-people. Catching my drift?"

Alex stared at her, looked back at the discarded jacket, and looked back at her with a frankly adorable conflicted expression she doesn't see on him often- scratch that, ever.

"I'm…" He ventured. "pretty sure the leather is artificial."

"They might not even know what that means. Just hide it or something!"

Her brother looked back at the jacket, before sighing dejectedly and walking over to it. He swiftly picked it up, before walking out of Dana's sight.

"…and tuck in your damn shirt!"

-0-

Blacklight stepped behind some foliage just outside of the cave, ensuring that he was out of Dana's sight. He looked down at the 'leather jacket' in his hands. She was right; there's a good chance that a herbivorous sapient creature might take issue with clothing made from dead animals. He supposed that it could be akin to a human seeing another creature wearing clothing made out of human body parts like an ogre. Not a great first impression. He begrudgingly had to admit that Dana was right on that one; leather was a bad idea. Even if they didn't care, it was better safe than sorry.

Just because it made sense didn't mean Blacklight had to be happy about it.

Not long ago he had been certain that he could change forms on a whim and disappear forever. He was certain that the only reason he still held Alex's form was because of Dana. Really, making a change like taking off his jacket should mean nothing to him.

It wasn't as if the jacket was valuable or irreplaceable. Even if it wasn't constructed of his own mass and even if he wasn't capable of replicating it perfectly as many times as he desired, it shouldn't matter. He would just break down and consume the jacket, and nothing would technically be missing. Even if he did actually own a jacket like that, it was a fairly generic one found in the back section of an average Manhattan clothing store. The red symbol didn't even mean anything; just a tribal symbol so kids could wear the thing and pretend it meant something.

Blacklight couldn't fathom why he cared about wearing the jacket. Even putting down his hood left him feeling a bit… hollow. It was a strange experience. It didn't make any sense. Not even the original Alex Mercer cared about the jacket. He bought it and wore it so he would be harder to recognize; it made him look bigger, and more importantly nothing like a scientist.

Blacklight frowned, before the jacket writhed and melted down in his grip and molded into his person as if it never existed. Then the bottom of his white dress shirt then moved as if it had muscles (which it did, in Blacklight's case) and tucked itself in. There he stood, a simple grey hoodie with the hood down, blue jeans, and a barely visible white dress shirt glimpsed from underneath the neck of his hoodie.

He turned around and started back towards the cave, emerging from the foliage to see Dana waiting for him. He ran a hand through his newly revealed hair, feeling unusually exposed.

"What took you?" She asked. Blacklight hadn't taken too long, but he supposed he took longer than he should have.

"I covered it in a bit of dirt, just to be sure." The chances of the locals finding a random leather jacket in the middle of this forest and connecting it to them are slim enough without the jacket being buried, but he supposed it was an alright excuse.

Dana blinked. "…Okay. I doubt they would find it in this place unless they were looking for it, but good job with being thorough I guess."

Blacklight shrugged. His mind was elsewhere. He couldn't help but notice that it felt like there was something missing from his head and arms, even though they were fine. Wearing Alex's form with no the jacket and the hood down just felt… wrong.

There he was. Getting sentimental over a jacket. Not even a real jacket, just some mold of his biomass he could always and did always discard at will.

Blacklight scowled. How… human of him.

The pseudo siblings walked back into the cave together, and Blacklight couldn't help but frown at the sight of their pegasus guest that frankly shouldn't be alive. He wasn't talking about the crash when she shouldn't be alive. Surviving a crash like that seemed to attribute to the pegasus's unusual durability. Though how the little creature can fly with such a body shape and such tiny wings was still a mystery to him.

No, the creature was lucky enough to cheat death by avoiding the wrath of Blacklight. That was exceptionally rare. If Blacklight wants something dead, it's usually dead by the end of the day. Or month, depending on the situation and the person in need of death. But the point was that not many are spared the wrath of ZEUS.

The little pegasus had no idea how lucky she was.

The line of thought caused Blacklight to pause. He had been having a large influx of what he had previously dubbed 'monster thoughts' recently, many of which pertaining to the pegasus. That wasn't a good sign. The stress and confusion was getting to him.

He had resolved to kill and devour a sapient rainbow pegasus of unknown age for the sake of information. While this made perfect sense to him, he realized that such thoughts were rather… morally fucked, as Dana would probably put it. He had told himself a while ago to avoid such thoughts so he wouldn't enact them and have Dana know about it. All it took was one night in whatever whimsical hellhole to come close to breaking that unspoken promise.

That meant the world filled with rainbow pegasi and unicorns nearly broke his resolve on the first night. Even if it was only breaking his resolve to not be a psychotic killing machine, it was still privately embarrassing.

He narrowed his eyes. He was supposed to be good at that. Pretending. Hell, his human disguise was so good even he fell for it at one point. Pretending, even privately, to give a shit about whether or not the little equine lives or dies shouldn't be any trouble.

It was lucky the pegasus decided to crash nearby. Granted, if she had crashed nearly anywhere else in the forest, the odds are Blacklight would have been able to track her down. It wasn't so much lucky for her as it was lucky for Blacklight. He had been looking for a source of information, and one dropped from the sky. It would be easier if he could simply consume the little bugger and get everything he needed, but that was a monster thought that should be avoided. He'd have to pretend for a moment that devouring the being would not be easier and more convenient for everyone involved (save the pegasus, of course).

When she woke up, Blacklight could ask her questions. Have her tell he and his sister about the civilization she came from, their views on humans, if they have ever seen a human before, and more importantly, if they are hostile. If all goes well then they will have an excellent start with first contact. After all, they will have a citizen vouching for them. Nothing says 'friendly' like being healed and protected after being injured in a strange and possibly dangerous forest.

Sure, he may have originally had designs on consuming her head and ripping up her body to make it look like a large predator got her, but what the pegasus didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Yet.

He'd probably have to explain to Dana why he can speak Greek. Amnesia might be as good an excuse as any. Maybe he could suggest that Alex studied Greek in college. He had a hard time thinking of why he would study Greek of all languages when he clearly wasn't going to a Greek speaking country, but he supposed he could say he didn't remember why. Amnesia was becoming a more and more convenient excuse. He supposed it was lucky that the original Alex was so distant with his sister after getting into college. She wouldn't know what he had studied.

The pegasus started shuffling a little. A small pained moan drifted from her lips and she slowly cracked her eyes open.

-0-

Rainbow Dash had been having a bad day. Not a **bad**, bad day. Just a day where everything was despicably normal. The kind of day where the clouds practically cleared themselves. The kind of day where all of her friends are either busy or doing something she has no interest in joining.

The previous day had been somewhat good. Kinda disappointing in the end though. Like, some big exciting flash and some roaring animals usually means that something cool and dangerous is going to happen. Rainbow had been expecting to fight some crazy 'elderly-rick' monsters like the ones in those Lovecolt books Twilight always goes on about. She got even more pumped when Fluttershy's animals got spooked and Twilight released a warning about some two-legged betentacled bug-beast prowling around Everfree.

Ultimately, nothing had happened. Which was not awesome. All that build up and no epic climactic reveal? What's up with that!? Twilight even said that they weren't allow to go and trap this weird tentacle monster, because she said they don't know what it can do or if it's even hostile or something, which seems stupid to Rainbow. Anything that's bug-like and has tentacles couldn't possibly be good.

So with such a tease fraying Rainbow Dash's nerves, and with nothing to do the next day, she of course decided to wait out the inevitable by doing something productive.

Practice for the Wonderbolts.

Many ponies say she practices too much. She doesn't, really. She just practices whenever she has free time and isn't particularly inclined to take a nap or be lazy. Rainbow has a lot of free time, what with being able to do her rounds as a weather pony so quickly. It isn't her fault everypony else is too slow to have as much free time as she does.

So she had been trying out a new stunt. It was the beginning stages; didn't even have a name. Nopony appreciates the art of stunt-creation. She had to think of what to do, whether or not she can do it and emerge completely intact at the end, and it requires extensive testing. After all, doing barrel rolls (that isn't just spinning in the air, that's an aileron roll, something everypony but stunt ponies seem to get confused) while in a dive before breaking off just in time to corkscrew up into the air is difficult stuff, and apparently not 'aerodynamically possible', as Twilight put it.

But Rainbow 'Danger' Dash blurs the lines between possible and impossible. That is to say, she ignored Twilight's warnings and tried it anyway.

In her defense, Rainbow pulled it off. Mostly. Right up until the last bit. She corkscrewed into the air and thought she was home free.

Until her wing clipped a stray raincloud.

What happened next was a bit of a blur, but Rainbow remembered making creative and liberal use of many Equestrian swears. Then there was pain. A lot of it. She didn't remember exactly where she landed, but she saw trees. So it was either Whitetail Woods, which is good, Sweet Apple Acres, which is still good but Applejack would be mad, or Everfree Forest, which is decidedly _not good_. The fact that she couldn't remember which side of town she crashed in was probably a bad sign

The backstory following with her awaking to darkness, a banging headache, with a tremendously sore wing and hoof wasn't as exciting as she would probably tell it later. Like a stray Everfree air-twister threw her off rather than a mere raincloud. A raincloud. What a rookie mistake. She'd make sure nopony knew about that particular screw up.

Yeah yeah, dishonest and all that. That's why she's the Element of Loyalty, not Honesty.

Rainbow cracked her eyes open a bit, giving out a slight moan at the pain in some of her joints. She had been injured enough previously to know what a dislocated wing felt like. The fact that it wasn't hurting a lot more meant that somepony had already found her and tended to her, meaning that she probably crashed in Sweet Apple Acres.

She hoped she hadn't caused any property damage. Last time that happened, Applejack forced her to work as payment for the damages. Not fun. It wasn't as if she couldn't do it, it was just that she is much better at kicking butt than she is at kicking trees.

Rainbow opened her eyes wider, seeing that she was in an area which had a single source of light shining in. When she focused her eyes enough to see the smooth stone ceiling, she quickly deduced that she hadn't, in fact, landed in Sweet Apple Acres.

She tried hastily to get up, but both the twinge in her left forehoof and her disorientation from what was likely a concussion prevented her from doing such. Not to mention the rest of her body felt pretty sore, but not quite as bad as her wing and hoof.

The pegasus lifted her head, attempting to ignore the lightheadedness that came to her when she did such. The entire room swam; she couldn't tell if her eyes just weren't working right or if the room was actually swaying the way it was. Cold stone walls surrounded her, illuminated by the light shining in through the mouth of the cave.

Rainbow heard a voice. A mare's voice, if the pitch was anything to go by. It was speaking in a language she had never heard before. Her eyes quickly flicked back and forth, rapidly scanning the cave before she realized her eyes were too blurry and she was looking too quickly to see anything but vague color. After blinking to clear her vision, she made out two figures in front of her.

Two tall, two-legged creatures staring down at her. Inside a cave. While she's alone, injured, and concussed.

Just before she could panic (well… as much as she would be able to panic in her state), she heard a somewhat gravelly stallion's voice speak.

"Are you feeling alright?"

-0-

Dana's eyes widened at the sight of the shifting and moaning pegasus. "Alex, I think she's waking up."

Her brother nodded in response, looking calm and focused. Dana, on the other hand, felt excitement bubbling in her chest. She was going to talk to a rainbow-maned pegasus that may or may not be an alien. Was it girly? Yes. But fawning over the idea of a rainbow-maned pegasus and fawning over the real thing were very different. She had a right to be excited like a little girl, dammit.

It was in this internal excitement did she remember something her brother had said the previous day. He said something about them speaking Greek. How the fuck would he even know it was Greek they were speaking? It's not as if he knows the language well enough to recogni-

"Eísai kalá?" Alex asked the pegasus once she seemed aware of them.

…_What the fuck?_

"What the fuck?" Dana voiced her thoughts. Her brother merely looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Were you just speaking Greek?" She asked.

Alex glanced back down to the pegasus, who seemed to still be attempting to work through her daze, before he looked back at Dana. "Yes." He answered simply.

"When. The fuck. Did you learn Greek?" She asked. _Oh God, is this what he meant with that whole creepy conversation about people being in hi-_

"I don't know. I just do." Alex shrugged.

Dana blinked. "You just do." She repeated.

"I have amnesia, remember? I probably studied Greek in college." He tried.

Dana shook her head. "So you remember how to speak Greek, but not how you learned to speak Greek?"

Alex's brow furrowed. "…Yes?"

"That seems like some pretty fucking laser-precise amnesia, right there. I thought it only worked like that in the movies." Dana stated flatly.

Her brother blinked. "Apparently-"

"Who the fuck studies Greek in college anyway? I didn't even know you can study Greek in college."

"Well-"

"I mean, Latin I can understand. Sure it's a dead language, but you can use it to look deep and I'm pretty sure it's the base of most languages these days. But what the fuck is the point of studying Greek? Who the fuck even speaks Greek anymore besides people in Greece?"

Alex frowned. "A surprising number of Manhattanites, apparently." He mumbled.

"Uh… geiá sou?" They heard a scratchy, female voice say.

The siblings quickly turned to look at the pegasus, who was staring at the two.

The first thing Dana really noticed was how huge her eyes were. Like, really fucking huge. She had to wonder how a brain can even fit in the head if her eyes were so damn big. If the pegasus was a normal, non-talking animal, she would assume its brain was the size of a fucking peanut. As it stood, she assumed her eyes were flat or something.

The color of her eyes was striking. A clear, bright rose color. She seemed to have trouble focusing, and if her expression was anything to go by, she was afraid.

Dana flushed in embarrassment at having ignored the talking mythical creature in favor of questioning the relevancy of the Greek language in modern society. Seemed pretty fucking lucky that her brother just so happened to have taken classes in Greek at some point so they can communicate with a bunch of Greek mythological creatures. Convenient. Maybe fate is finally giving them a break after providing the two with shit luck for the past weeks and pretty much their entire childhood.

Alex knelt down, an action that caused the pegasus to flinch. "Emeís den prókeitai na sas vlápsei." He spoke.

"What did you say?"

"I told her we mean to harm."

The pegasus didn't look very reassured.

"Poios eísai esý? Ti ékanes gia ména?" The pegasus spoke.

"To ónomá mou eínai o Alex, kai af̱tí̱ eínai i̱ Dana." Alex spoke, gesturing to himself and his sister as the names were spoken. "Échete synetrívi̱ kontá, gi 'af̱tó sas pí̱re sto katafýgio."

While Dana could get the gist of what was being said, she felt pretty fucking left out.

"Oh…" The pegasus said, seeming to let her guard down. "Ef̱charistó̱, ypothéto̱. To ónomá mou eínai Irida Ormí̱." The pegasus said, gesturing at herself looking unusually proud for someone lying on the floor. She winced when she twitched her left forehoof, however.

Alex arched an eyebrow, before glancing back in Dana's direction. "She says her name is Irida Ormí̱, which translates to…" He sighed through his nostrils. "…'Rainbow Dash'."

Dana blinked, then giggled a bit. "'Rainbow Dash'? You can't say it doesn't fit."

'Rainbow Dash' looked offended. "Gelás to ónomá mou? Ta onómatá sas eínai pio períerga apó to dikó mou!"

"Chalaró̱ste. To ónomá sas eínai akrivó̱s paráxeno gia mas. Polý kyriolektikí̱ schési̱ me ta onómatá mas." Alex placated. He turned to see Dana's confused look, before clarifying. "She thought we were making fun of her."

"Ah." She nodded. Dana sighed when Alex turned back to Rainbow and seemed to ask a question. She had a feeling she would be left out of a lot of conversations in the near future.

-0-

After initial greetings, 'Rainbow Dash' appeared remarkably calm about the situation. Blacklight could only assume she had seen humans or some close equivalent before, as appearing calm despite her injuries in front of two larger unknown creatures would be rather unlikely.

He had already deduced her species herbivorous in nature after he got a look at her teeth, though her massive forward-facing eyes send mixed messages. Forward-facing eyes were an attribute of a predator, and she was clearly a prey.

Overall, things were going better than he expected. She had introduced herself, he had introduced himself and his sister, and misunderstandings of any nature were unlikely with his understanding of her language.

"So what are you?" Rainbow asked bluntly.

…So there goes the theory of her having seen humans before.

How strangely calm she was in the mercy of unknown beings.

Blacklight couldn't help but wonder if she had some kind of mental disability.

"We're humans." Blacklight answered. _Well, one of us is human._

Rainbow scrunched her face. "Hyew-maans. Never heard of those before. Where'd you come from?"

Blacklight figured that if she had never heard of humans, then she probably never heard of the United States. It was safe to say at this point that he and his sister had somehow been teleported to a planet designed by a ten-year-old. He resigned not to think about the sheer stupidity of his predicament for the sake of his sanity.

"We're from the United States."

Rainbow shook her head. "Nope, never heard of it. But I was never good at geometry…"

"Geography." He corrected.

"Yeah, I was never good at that either." She shrugged to the best of her ability.

The facepalm Blacklight repressed would have held enough power to shatter bulletproof glass.

"Ask her where we are." Dana said behind him in English. The knowledge of where they are probably won't help them considering that the United States doesn't appear to exist wherever they are. He did figure, at least, that knowing the name of what country they're in would be helpful.

"Do you know where we are?" He asked Rainbow.

"Uhh, my eyes are a bit funny so I can't really see outside…" Rainbow said, squinting in the direction of the cave mouth. Her vision issues (as well as her oblivious behavior) was probably due to a concussion. At least he hoped so. Someone who was this stupid all the time would be a massive pain in the ass.

"I mean what is the name of that town we're near." Blacklight clarified.

Rainbow looked back at him. "Oh. That's Ponyville."

Ponyville. He takes back his assumption that whatever planet they were on was designed by a ten-year-old. It was designed by a five-year-old. There's a town named Humansville in the United States, but that was named after someone whose last name was Human, not the species of the founders.

Blacklight resigned to keep his feelings on the absolute stupidity of the town's name to himself. He almost chucked at the thought that people who can't speak Greek would probably never know how dumb the name is. Though 'Pónypóli̱' still isn't the most flattering name.

"What's the name of the country?" Blacklight asked, almost fearing the answer.

She looked at his quizzically. "You don't know?"

_Why would I be asking if I-_

"We're… not from around here." He interrupted his annoyed line of thought.

"Well you're in Equestria," Equestria. Equestrian without the N. Very funny. "you know, biggest country in the world, home of the Princesses? I don't know how you don't-" She cut herself off, eyes widening as if just remembering something important. "Oh! Oh! Did you have something to do with that big flash in Everfree?"

Blacklight had a feeling that he did.

"Probably. There was a flash right before we arrived here. Is Everfree the name of the forest we're in?" Everfree. What a mouthful. Not the English translation, but the Greek version. If it was spelled with the English alphabet, it would have fifteen letters.

"So do you know about the tentacle bug monst-" She paused. Tentacle bug monster? Shit. Someone must have seen him kill that infected man… though he wasn't in armored form. Where did the bug thing come from? "We're in Everfree?" She asked.

"If that's where the 'big flash' happened, then yes." He confirmed.

Rainbow Dash blinked. She twitched her recently dislocated wing as if testing it, and cringed in pain. "Uh oh."

"Uh oh?" Dana sounded behind him, while Blacklight looked back at her. "What did she mean by 'uh oh'? That kind of thing crosses language barriers, you know."

"Why 'uh oh'?" Blacklight asked in Greek as he turned back to the pegasus.

"Well…" Rainbow shuffled in place. "The Everfree Forest is kind of… the most dangerous place in Equestria."

That made Blacklight pause for thought. He had figured that the forest was dangerous just by its appearance, but it didn't seem like the **most** dangerous place in an entire country. He hadn't seen any evidence of such.

Regardless, nothing the forest had to offer was more dangerous than himself.

"She says this forest is dangerous." He said as he turned back to Dana.

Dana blinked. "No shit. Just look at it." She said, gesturing out the mouth of the cave. "Could it be any more ominous? Tell me something I don't know."

"The nearby town is named Pónypóli̱, which translates to Ponyville," Dana snorted, using a hand to cover her smile. "and we're in a country named Ippikóstriá, which translates to Equestria."

"Because they're equine."

"Essentially."

Dana shook her head. "I have a feeling that none of this is real and I really just got knocked into another coma."

Blacklight didn't blame her. His suspension of disbelief was already nearing its breaking point, and he's a sapient virus that eats people.

"Hey, how come she's not talking?" Rainbow asked. Blacklight turned back to her.

"She doesn't know Greek."

Rainbow's expression turned quizzical. "What's 'Greek'?"

"The language we're speaking." Blacklight wondered if the crash caused some form of brain damage.

"Dude, we're speaking Equish."

The facepalm that Blacklight repressed would have held enough power to punch through three inch thick tempered steel. That's the second time since he had been in contact with the little equine did he repress the urge to slam his own face with excessive force. Not good.

"Apparently it's called something different where I come from." _Equish. What the fuck. Is everything here horse-themed?_

"Anyway," Blacklight said, ready to move on to the real reason she was here. "if Dana and I were to walk into Ponyville," To his credit, he only hesitated for a split second when saying the town's name. "would the town panic at the sight of us and attack?"

Rainbow looked pensive for a moment, before answering. "They wouldn't _attack _you, but Ponyville's always been a bit, aah-" She chuckled nervously whilst trying to think of a word. "skittish." She finished. "Especially with that big flash and Twilight warning everypony about a two-legged tentacle monster. And you guys _do_ walk on two legs… and you _would_ be coming out of the Everfree forest…" She thought for a bit more. "I know _I_ would probably try to buck you on sight when I think about it, but I think everypony else would be too scared." She caught Blacklight's look and hastily amended. "But I'm sure they'll be cool if you come into town with me."

"So they won't form a mob." He clarified.

"A mob? Where do you think we are? Chaíti̱kapélo?" Blacklight blinked, bewildered. That almost sounded like an attempt to make a horse pun about Manhattan. Chaíti̱kapélo roughly translates to 'mane hat on'.

But that wouldn't make any sense. A pun that hinges on the translation of another language based on a city that apparently doesn't exist is just too improbable. Stupid, even. Blacklight chalked it up as coincidence.

Blacklight got his thoughts back to what Rainbow had said. They would be more afraid than aggressive, and they had her to vouch for them. He supposed that was as good a situation he was going to get. It wasn't as if he couldn't defend Dana with extreme prejudice should the population turn hostile.

Though seeing him rip apart a crowd of cute multicolored ponies would probably be very traumatizing for her.

"Can you walk?" He asked.

"I can walk. I've had worse." Rainbow confirmed, shakily standing up. "Can't fly though…" She grumbled, throwing a dirty look at her recently damaged wing.

Blacklight nodded, before standing up himself and walking towards the supplies he had taken in the back of the cave.

"Hey what? Where we going?" Dana asked, surprised by the sudden movements.

Blacklight looked back at her and smirked.

"To town."


	5. Paranoia

Elmer had a simple life. He's a squirrel, after all. He had never heard of a squirrel with a life that isn't simple.

He supposed, however, that his life was a little more exciting than the average squirrel's. He was born and raised in what the ponies call Everfree; a place where survival of the fittest is key. Most squirrels live outside with the ponies, everything given to them. Elmer supposed that if he wanted to, he could go outside of the Everfree and live with the ponies. But he won't. Elmer's a free squirrel who lives for himself.

Elmer, like most wild animals, originally didn't have a name. He was called Elmer by the sweet butterfly pony that everyone can understand. He didn't go by it when with his fellow animals; they couldn't pronounce things like a pony could. Most of them scarcely understood the concept of a name to begin with.

Elmer darted from tree to tree, noting that he was in the thicker parts of the forest. Nuts are harder to come by in that place; other squirrels usually dwell within the areas of sparser vegetation. But Elmer was on a mission. He was going to confirm a forest rumor that had been spreading around.

The flash; they had all felt it. Like a ripple, an itch that sent shivers down their spines. It felt _wrong_. Then, according to some of the birds that had seen it, a pony-like nest had appeared in the epicenter of the strange anomaly.

Those birds witnessed _slaughter_, if rumors were to be believed. They had gone through the forest, spreading the word like wildfire, sharing tales of the scent, the look of the bipedal being that had used impossibly sharp claws and, frighteningly enough, spear-like serrated tendrils to tear apart similar looking creatures.

Many hadn't believed it, going to the site only to come back and confirm the rumors. Elmer, like them, had to see it for himself.

Soon, after much time of darting from tree to tree, Elmer came across the most disturbing scent.

He came across the strange structure, and he saw the carnage with his own eyes. The structure was clear of bodies, but the blood was there. It was brown by that point, and the stench of death was potent. But more potent than the stench of death was _sickness_. Everything smelt _sick_, especially the bloodstains.

Thus Elmer confirmed it. He now understood why everyone was so obsessed with staying away from this bipedal creature, even the ferocious manticores.

He noticed an acorn dropping from one of the nearby trees. As a squirrel, he normally wouldn't hesitate grabbing the easy prize. But the acorn smelled… wrong. Like the bloodstains. It smelled sick.

Everything in the area smelled sick, especially the plants, the trees. It was like an unseen corruption had taken to the vegetation.

Elmer couldn't take it anymore. The stench of death and sickness, the loneliness, the _quiet_. That entire part of the forest was abandoned. He quickly understood why, and decided to follow in his fellow animal's footsteps.

The squirrel darted to towards the direction in which the sun sets, eager to get away from the scent. It followed him for a while, as if it was stuck to his fur, but it slowly dispersed as he got further and further from the source.

Soon, he stopped, head in the air sniffing curiously. He was in the clear. He was…

Why was everything so quiet still?

Elmer narrowed his little eyes suspiciously, glancing back and forth before quickly darting up a tree for a better view. He gave the air another sniff.

…He recognized the scent. It wasn't noticeable before, but it was there. Isolated, he could quickly identify the smell. It was behind the death-scent. The scent of a creature.

The scent of a predator.

Soon enough, he heard the crunch of large creatures moving through foliage. He stood still in the tree, watching curiously as two bipedal creatures and that rainbow-pony that visits the butterfly-pony often came closer. The pony looked scuffed up, but the two bipedals looked no worse for wear. One of them carried many unfamiliar objects, enough for them to stack up and cover its face.

The pony limped along, one of her hooves clearly sore from some incident. The smaller bipedal treaded lightly, as if its feet were more fragile than they should be.

The larger one…

Elmer froze up in terror when the larger one's gaze snapped right towards him. Cold, unnatural shining blue eyes met his own tiny beady eyes. The eyes said everything. Cold, calculating and… hungry. Ever so hungry. Elmer recognized those eyes immediately.

The eyes of a predator.

An apex predator.

Elmer squeaked in fear and less than gracefully tumbled out of the tree. He landed, quickly righting himself and dashing as far away from this… this being as he could.

Anything capable of wreaking the carnage seen just a day earlier with a gaze such as that was not a force to be toiled with.

Elmer understood why the other predators feared that creature.

-0-

Blacklight watched, his face expressionless, as a squirrel fell from a tree and scurried off.

Rainbow Dash, who had been limping along to his left, pointed her injured hoof at the retreating rodent and laughed.

"Pff, did you see that squirrel!?"

He did see the squirrel. It was rather alarming, as it is the first animal he had seen in the forest itself, the only others having been at that cottage he had seen. He remembered that they had disturbingly expressive faces.

The squirrel was the same way. What was worrisome was that the squirrel was not acting the way a squirrel should. It ran at the very sight of him, with an expression of palpable fear that frankly shouldn't exist on such a facial anatomy. Regular squirrels don't just bolt like that on sight, especially as frantically as that one did.

Blacklight narrowed his eyes slightly. The squirrel _knew_ something.

"I saw it." He finally confirmed to the giggling pegasus.

There stood the Monster of Manhattan within a mythical forest, soda and various bags of junk food in his arms, his companions a sky blue rainbow-maned pegasus and his sister wearing pajamas, suspecting squirrels of knowing his true nature.

He couldn't shake the feeling that someone, somewhere was laughing at him.

Dana approached to his right, looking at their equine companion curiously.

"Why did she laugh?" She asked.

"She saw a squirrel fall out of a tree." Blacklight answered blandly.

Dana raised an eyebrow, before smirking. "And you call me childish."

"I never called you that." She isn't that childish. She swears like a disgruntled teenager but she is generally rather level-headed and mature.

...When not dealing with her 'big brother', anyway. In Blacklight's presence, everything is fair game. This includes using his arms-made-weapons as kitchen implements, demanding him to mimic celebrity voices to say incriminating things, holding her bare arms against his shifting skin because of the tickling sensation it causes her, and using 'buffy speak' (as the pop culture savants in his head call it) to describe his abilities.

He remembered his reaction was a double-take the first time Dana described his blade as the 'twisty-army-swordy-thing'.

"But you were _thinking_ it." She insisted.

Blacklight considered correcting her, but decided a 'friendly sibling rivalry' based response would be better. Swiftly sifting through endless memories of movies, novels, and actual siblings' experiences, he quickly came up with an appropriate response.

"Your words, not mine."

Dana looked at him, eyes wide. Blacklight didn't know if that was good or bad.

"Alex... did you just make a joke?" She asked.

"It wasn't technically a joke-"

"You just attempted to be deliberately humorous?"

Blacklight's eyes darted left and right, feeling trapped despite being a living weapon of mass destruction.

"...Yes?"

She then grew a big grin, and patted his shoulder.

"Awww! My big brother's finally growing a sense of humor!" She cooed.

Blacklight had a sense of humor. In fact, his sense of humor was probably better than most human beings alive. He just didn't laugh at jokes he got nor did he see much point in telling them himself unless he was attempting to mimic someone else who would tell a joke.

Blacklight silently wondered if he contradicted himself with that line of thought...

"Uhh." Rainbow Dash, who had watched the exchange with no understanding of their words, spoke up. "Are you two like, coltfriend and marefriend or something?"

Blacklight's head snapped to the pegasus's direction, mentally noting much to his distaste that 'boy' and 'girl' were just replaced with equine equivalent terminology.

"No, we're siblings." He quickly clarified in Greek.

"Oh." She said, her brow furrowed, before her unnaturally colored eyes widened. "Ooooooh. Okay. I thought the reason you two looked so alike was because everypo-, er, everyhuman looked like that."

"What is she going 'oh' for? What did she ask?" Dana piped up behind him.

"She thought we're in a relationship." He answered, switching back to English.

Dana cringed. "Oh ew! Even if you weren't my brother you're nine years older than I am!"

"Hence why I told her you're my sister."

"You didn't tell her this earlier, _why_?"

Blacklight shrugged. "Didn't seem relevant at the time."

The three of them lapsed into silence, Dana and Rainbow watching their surroundings curiously. Well, Dana was. Rainbow appeared to be more paranoid than she let on; she seemed wary.

"So, ah," Dana began. "we goin' or what?"

Blacklight looked down at their pegasus companion. "Are you leading us?" He asked in her language.

She looked surprised. "Me? I thought you knew some path to town!"

"You don't know the way back?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "One, it's the Everfree forest. Nopony except Zecora comes in and out of here enough to know the way back. Two," She flexed her uninjured wing. "I have wings. I normally just fly back to town!"

Blacklight didn't need her to lead at all really. He just figured that, as a native, she would know the most painless way out so Dana wouldn't have to dirty her pajamas too much. It seemed, however, that they were going to have to make their own way out.

He briefly looked over his memories of his scouting, and remembered their positions relative to the town and a few other landmarks. He remembered that an orchard he saw was closer to their current location than the town itself. He decided it would be better to get out of the forest as soon as possible.

"There's an orchard due west of here. Do you know it?" He asked the pegasus.

She seemed to perk up. "Oh! That's Sweet Apple Acres! My friend Mí̱loanýpso̱si̱ owns that place!"

Blacklight blinked as he translated the name. Mí̱loanýpso̱si̱ directly translated to 'apple hoist'. He considered the synonyms of the word, and quickly decided that it was a mistranslation of 'jack'. Applejack. How charming.

"Then I suppose we'll head west." He decided, before relaying the message in English for Dana's sake.

"Why? What's west? Isn't the town north of here?" Dana asked.

"Her friend owns an orchard west of here. We're detouring there because it gets us out of the forest faster."

"Oh. Well. That's good. Let's go." Dana said. "Do you think their town will have any shoes?"

"If they do, I doubt they'll fit human feet."

"Fuck."

-0-

They had been walking in relative silence for a half hour. It was staggering how much bigger the world was when you _walked_ like a regular human being.

Blacklight decided he did not like walking.

While Blacklight enjoyed the silence, he decided that it was a good time to start asking some questions he didn't get around to asking in the cave.

One thing had really been bugging him.

"Why are you so quick to trust us?" Blacklight asks in Greek, looking over his shoulder to Rainbow Dash.

She jumped at his voice, snapping her gaze to him. Her expression quickly turned to one of confusion.

"Huh? Why wouldn't I?"

The amount of purified naivety in that statement was almost sickening. Blacklight decided to elaborate anyway.

"We're complete strangers of a species you apparently never heard of, who you met in apparently the most dangerous place in your country. I find your lack of suspicion towards us a little strange." He clarified.

She looked at him strangely. "I don't see why I should be paranoid. If you guys were some kind of pony eating monsters, you would have already eaten me when I was out cold." _Oh if only you knew..._ "Besides, you guys helped my wing."

Blacklight blinked. "I didn't tell you about-"

"C'mon, my wing's been dislocated before!" Rainbow cut him off. "I know what it feels like when it's 'out', and I know what it feels like when it's _been_ 'out' but pushed back in. I don't see anypony else but you guys around, so I put two and two together." She smiled. "Thanks, by the way. I'm glad I wasn't awake when it was actually bad."

"...You're welcome." Blacklight awkwardly stated. He wasn't used to receiving praise from anyone but his sister.

Speaking of...

"What're you two talking about?" Asked Dana, who was ducking under some branches just behind him.

Blacklight frowned. "You do realize I'm not going to be able to translate every conversation once we get into town, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "Not the _whole_ conversation, just give me the gist!"

"I asked her why she is so trusting of us."

Blacklight walked in silence for a moment, Dana clearly waiting for him to continue.

"...And? Why is she so trusting?"

"Naivety." He answered simply.

She smirked. "Or maybe because not everyone is as paranoid as you are."

Blacklight's brow furrowed. "My paranoia is justified."

"You refused to order a fucking pizza because 'the delivery boy might be a Blackwatch sleeper agent'." She said, poorly imitating his voice.

He bristled. "That could happen." He insisted. It actually could. He's been in the minds of Blackwatch and they have sleeper agents everywhere. He only tracked down around fifty of them before they started catching on to his methods and keeping their designations more 'need-to-know' than they were before. Many of them had useful information; they were intelligence gatherers, after all.

She laughed. "Suuure. I'm just glad you never started wearing a tinfoil hat."

"Oh! I almost forgot to ask!" Rainbow Dash suddenly piped up. "Do you two know anything about some two-legged bug monster with tentacles?"

Oh, that again. She mentioned that back in the cave. He figured she would bring it up again eventually. Luckily, the answer to her question was simple.

"No. To my knowledge, my sister and I are the only ones that came from that flash." Well, only ones alive, anyway. Blacklight made sure of that.

Rainbow looked almost disappointed. "Oh. Well Twilight'll tell you about it when we get to Ponyville. Maybe you've seen one before where you came from."

"Twilight?" He asked.

"She's another friend of mine. A real egghead, but she's cool."

He hummed in response, and idly noticed that the foliage was getting thinner, and more sunlight was shining on them.

-0-

Applejack was wary. Very wary.

There was a good reason. Twilight wouldn't go and warn the town about some Everfree monster unless it was serious. It didn't help that her orchard is right on the edge of the unnatural forest. It most certainly didn't help that Applebloom had a tendency to take her friends on convoluted adventures in that place. Everfree was dangerous enough, then that flash comes along and Twilight goes around telling everypony it got worse.

Or at least that's what Applejack assumed. Twilight kept insisting that the creature could be benign or misunderstood or some other nonsense. Maybe. Then again, Fluttershy's animals were mighty spooked for a bunch of critters who had just seen a new monster of some kind. It would be a mite bit startling to see a new, strange creature, but those animals were terrified. Applejack couldn't help but wonder if they told Fluttershy the whole story behind their encounter.

But maybe she's just paranoid.

What wasn't helping her paranoia was the odd behavior of the more benign Everfree animals. A much larger amount of them were visiting Fluttershy's cottage and roaming about the wilderness. The dangerous creatures were not seen outside of the forest, but squirrels, beavers, and other mundane creatures of the like had been fleeing the forest. Like something big just came into town and was spooking up a storm.

Applejack didn't like the picture it was all painting.

She had faith in herself and the other Elements, of course, but she couldn't shake the feeling of dread in her stomach. They had taken on Nightmare Moon, but they knew what they were walking into that time. They went to her. This thing, however, didn't see fit to show itself, the animals weren't talking to Fluttershy much, and Twilight insisted that they should not track this creature down. Twilight had decided that they should either leave it alone or at least wait for it to come for them.

Applejack didn't much like the idea of waiting for a betentacled bug creature to approach them. There wasn't much she could do about the situation but wait, however.

So she went about her day as normal. Harvesting apples, doing chores, manual labor and the like. It soothed her, helped her think. It's her cutie-mark, after all. Maybe she was a workaholic, but she saw no issue with that as long as she enjoyed her work, that one time she tried to harvest the entire orchard alone notwithstanding.

Perhaps it was the simplicity of it that made her work so appealing. Don't misunderstand, it wasn't work for simpletons; running a business and an orchard required quite a bit of knowhow. Her brother did most of the thinking in that regard, but she wasn't clueless. The point was that once the thinking is done, all there was is action. There was no need for improvisation, no need for conversation and quick thinking. She can just _work_ because the thinking is done. The thinking is usually done for months at a time before it would be time to get back to the thinking. Twilight would appreciate the line of work if she were interested, with the plans and the lack of deviation from them.

So her process for waiting was simple; applebuck. Applebuck a lot. A simple system of repetition and exercise for profit. Productive, tiring, yet relaxing in its own way. Complicated plans, plants, and procedures simplified into chores. When Applejack applebucked, she had the world in her control.

Unfortunately, invading elements can very quickly cause a world to spiral out of control.

Applejack was finishing up the eastern side of the orchard, with most of the apples bucked and ready to be transported.

The first sign of something amiss was the sight of Rainbow Dash walking. She doesn't walk if she can help it. She's always flying, always hovering, especially when she doesn't need to. She's a pegasus to her core; walking is a last resort in her eyes.

The second sign of something amiss was the fact that Rainbow Dash was not in fact walking, but limping. She seemed dirty and scuffed up from some incident. A crash? Probably. The fact that she was walking in from the direction of the Everfree Forest made her seemingly minor injuries all the more worrisome, however.

The third sign of something amiss was the two bipedals following close behind her.

Normally, a creature's life is decided by thought, and action. Thought, action. That's how most decisions are made. You think about it, and act. The amount of time between thought and action tends to vary, but it is much the same for rational beings.

However, with the recent flash, Twilight's warnings of a bipedal creature, the sight of her injured friend, and her somewhat tired state, she skipped thought and went straight to action.

This skip in the step of the process is known to most as a _reaction_.

Applejack charged forward as quickly as she could, ready to defend her friend.

"Rainbow, look out!"

She came within range of the bipedals quickly, spun around, and bucked with all of her strength.

Mind you, that is quite a lot of strength.

So imagine her surprise when both of her rear hooves surged with pain with no sign of yield from their target.

It was like kicking a brick wall- actually no, it wasn't. Applejack had kicked a brick wall before, and some of the bricks were actually dislodged. There was a reaction; something gave away. Her target, however, didn't even flinch. It was more like kicking a _mountain_.

She yelped with pain, her rear hooves collapsing under her when her kick completed. She turned her head to look at the bipedal assailant.

The first thing she noticed was the eyes. They were tiny, ice blue, eerily reflective, and filled with _fury_. An anger the likes of which she had never seen. Behind those eyes she saw a promise of excessive retaliation. The promise of gruesome death. Applejack had never felt more small in her life than when she looked up at those eyes.

She had rendered herself out of fighting condition with her own buck and the creature didn't even seem affected.

Those eyes... Those eyes...

Applejack felt like she had just angered a _god_.

-0-

Blacklight was pissed.

It started when they had met the tree line. Rainbow Dash had insisted upon going first. He, of course, had no reason to refuse, so he let her.

They had gone from a dirty, eerie, dark forest to a somewhat thick apple orchard. They clearly were in an area that had been harvested recently, as there were wooden baskets with ripe apples in them everywhere.

He had quietly wondered how equines managed to harvest apples, but he dismissed the thought for another time.

He had heard the assailant long before they had actually seen her. Grunting, leaves shaking, apples falling, and the sound of a tree getting hit. Hard.

Soon enough the sounds were within the range of hearing for their pegasus companion, to which she suggested to go find the source. Apparently it was likely her friend who owned the place. Seeing as Rainbow Dash was friendly enough (and how she insisted that she was the only one who would outright attack them on sight if she saw them out and about), he decided to follow her to her friend.

Then an orange, blonde-maned pony with a ponytail (the hairstyle, though the literal was true as well) came galloping around some trees, shouted a warning to Rainbow, and kicked him.

Now, Blacklight obviously wasn't even staggered. He wasn't pissed about the fact that she kicked him specifically. No, he was pissed about how the newcomer endangered Dana.

The kick itself, despite its ineffectiveness to Blacklight, was impressive. Beyond impressive, he would say impossible. The force of the kick far exceeded the amount a creature her size should be capable of generating, and even beyond what a regular sized horse can do. That kick held enough power to shatter concrete.

This, combined with the fact that the assailant was clearly panicked and probably targeting whoever wasn't her friend, meant that if Dana had been walking to his right rather than his left, she would be dead.

Dead. Gone. A regular horse kick she could recover from, but this would have gotten her in the chest and easily collapsed her ribcage. Dana would have been dead in under a minute.

That meant that this little orange **cunt** almost.

**Killed**.

**Dana**.

He must have been expressing his rage somehow, because once the equine collapsed from the pain of the kickback that came with hitting such a stationary target so hard, she looked back with a face of _fear_.

With good reason, as he was about to devour her from the inside out and make sure she felt every single bit of-

"Applejack! What the hay! Why did you do that!?"

"Holy shit Alex are you okay!?"

The two voices cleared the red from his vision. While Rainbow Dash ran up to inspect her friend 'Applejack', Blacklight looked to his sister.

She looked slightly panicked, her hands on his shoulders.

'Applejack' could have killed his sister.

But she was fine.

Next to him, her hands on his shoulders.

Concerned.

More importantly, watching.

Which was very, very lucky for the little equine.

"I'm fine." He answered.

He looked down at his cargo, the soda and chips were unharmed. Dana was unharmed. He himself was unharmed. Applejack however, injured herself trying to harm him.

He took a calming breath he knew he didn't need.

"I'm fine." He repeated.

If that happened again, he was unsure if he could stop himself from retaliating.

-0-

He always concentrated. Making the parts move. It was what he was supposed to do. In the beginning.

The big one. Twist, beat, twist, beat, twist, beat. The fluid runs, stops, twist, beat, runs again. Suck in the space, feel the increase. Let go, deflate.

Little things. Lots of little things. In him. On him. Is him. He was built by. They're part of him. Blocks. Twist, beat.

He wasn't alone. Not really. Mother, she used to coo in him. He heard her. She taught him. The little parts, he made them die when they couldn't be with him. Mother, she made him twist beat on the inside. Warm feelings filled him.

Mother was not clear, but he felt her. Sometimes she made the speeches like the _others_ did. Noise. It shook him deep, shook the space. It was strange. Mother soothed. Said to wait. She tried to teach. Teach so much, but she could not. Mother, she waited and he waited.

Then Mother stopped.

Then another came. Brother. Brother taught but didn't feel. Brother had much. Taught him. The twist, the beat. _Heart_, Brother had identified. When he twisted, when it beat, it was his _heart_. Brother had no heart. He never twisted, he never beat. He only _writhed_.

Brother taught, but didn't know. He called out to Brother, yet no. No, no no. Never respond. He taught, but never listened. Never soothed. Never cooed, never felt. Brother was smart, Brother had _words_.

But Brother was cold.

Brother taught but didn't know what he taught. So much confusing, unclear. Sometimes concepts came through. Day, night. He didn't know. Light and dark, he knew. Sky? He knew no sky. Brother taught, day and night, time. Passing time. Time never meant anything to him before, nor to Mother. They were both free. They waited. Time was a thing; a strange thing. Mother felt of the others who cared for time. The dawdled, they flailed, grasping at the Time desperately hoping it never got away. It always did. Time didn't wait for the others. Time waited for Mother. Time waited for him. But not the others.

Brother taught Time, and with it the appreciation for Time. Time became important. He started to measure the twists, measure the beats. Brother taught days, but even with Time revealed he could not tell the days. He could tell the twists. The beats.

Time, so much Time to measure. Another concept taught, games. The game of Time. The twists and beats were _fun_. The heart was _fun_. Sometimes he made it faster and slower. _Twistbeattwistbeat, twist, beat, twist, beat_.

He could see. Light. Images. Before he could make little sense of them, like the shaking space when the others spoke. Then Brother taught, and the light could be understood. Brother showed him colors, even though there were few in his world. He never saw blue, but Brother did. He never saw green, but Brother did. He understood the light, he understood the color. He wanted to see more, but there were no more. The others were _black_, the walls were _grey_, he was… was… beige? Beige, grey, yellow. He wanted to see blue. He wanted to see red.

He made the colors. The _others_ got strange. They shook the space more. Their maws opening and closing. Brother taught that he wasn't supposed to see them, that the others made the walls light on one side. But he saw them, because Brother taught him how.

In his time being taught by Brother, even though he was cold, he was happiest. He felt the world get bigger. The shaking space became the noise. Those tingles became feeling, touch. He knew more than the big parts. He knew more than the twist-beat. The heart. He knew the space-sucking was breathing. In, out, in out. Why? Brother taught, but it was too much. Brother's lessons sometimes don't make sense until he learns later lessons. Brother had taught color, but he didn't understand until brother taught light, and so on.

Brother, oh how he loved his cold, writhy Brother. Brother taught so much. So, so much. So much reason to be _happy_. He loved the lessons, they never stopped. Even when they didn't make sense, he loved Brother. So so much. He missed Mother. Mother would have liked Brother. Mother could feel, Brother could teach. They were supposed to be together. Mother oh Mother where did she go? Come back to him and meet Brother!

But Mother never came. It was sad, but Brother was there. It was okay. Brother was there.

Then Brother stopped.

Then there was _nothing_.

It was horrible. The silence. He hated, _hated _it. Brother taught so much but there was still so much to teach. He remembered, the feeling. Before Brother left. Brother taught one more thing, but it still didn't make sense.

So he thought. About Brother. About how Brother learned. Brother was taught. By who? By the others. The others taught Brother. They taught him fast! The others become part of Brother, where they can teach Brother. Then Brother taught him.

Then he knew. He knew how to make sense of Brother's last lesson. He knew how to find Brother again. He needed to learn from the others. He needed to… needed to…

He needed to consume. To become.

He opened his eyes for the first time in many, many twistbeats.

He would consume. He would learn.

And he would be reunited with Brother.

Or, as Brother taught himself...

Blacklight.

Brother Blacklight.


	6. Eyes

"What the hay was that, Applejack!?"

"A-ah panicked! Twilight was goin' on about two-legged critters an' you were-"

"And I was what!? Walking calmly through your orchard!? They don't even look scary!"

"But ah was- they were-"

"Just walking! Through your orchard! Is that how you greet everypony!? 'Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres! How 'bout a buck to the face!'"

Rainbow couldn't believe it. Even she wouldn't be stupid enough to attack those two if they were walking with a friend of hers. Applejack was supposed to be the level-headed one, for Celestia's sake!

Alex and Dana were standing a couple of meters away, Rainbow having taken Applejack away to chew her out. Dana looked worried, while Alex just stared at AJ over that stuff he carried with a strangely neutral expression. He didn't look hurt from the buck, so she must have botched it somehow. Looked pretty solid from where Rainbow was standing, but Applejack looked more hurt than Alex did. She had to have screwed that up somehow.

Applejack was seated on her haunches, a downtrodden look on her face. Her back hooves seemed sore, but she most certainly deserved that.

"Ah'm sorry, alright? But what're those two doin' here anyway?" She asked, looking over at Alex warily. She kept giving Alex looks, but Rainbow didn't know why.

"They're here because of the flash. They were looking for a place to stay, so I was gonna walk them into town so nopony panics."

Applejack turned to face her. "They know about th' flash?"

Rainbow shrugged as best as she could while ground-bound. She already missed flying. "Well, I dunno if they _know_about the flash, but they said they came from it."

AJ furrowed her brow in confusion, but let it drop. "So why're y'all scuffed up like that?"

"I got blindsided by an air-twister and crashed into Everfree." Rainbow said nonchalantly. "It was pretty bad, but they kept me from getting eaten and even fixed my wing!" She experimentally twitched her left front hoof. "... and I think my hoof to. It hurts when I step on it, but it kind of feels like my wing does."

Applejack stared at her. "Ah'll admit that Ah don't know much about weather, but Ah don't think there's sucha thing as an 'air-twister'."

Rainbow scoffed. "Who's the pegasus here, you or me? I think I know what I'm talking about." She shook her head. "But that doesn't matter. Go and apologize!"

Applejack hunched, her ears folding back. "Do... do Ah have ta?"

Rainbow just stared at her friend in open-mouthed shock. "Do you- Of course you have to!" She shouted. "Oh my gosh are you serious!? This is the kind of thing you and the girls expect from me! Why wouldn't yo-"

"T'one with the blue eyes gives me the creeps." Applejack cut in sharply but quietly.

Rainbow furrowed her brow in confusion, and tried to recall their eye colors. She was pretty certain the both had the same eye color. "They both have blue eyes." She deadpanned.

"Ah mean th' one with the _blue_ blue eyes!"

The pegasus just stared, her expression a combination of bewilderment and frustration. "Ya know, Pinkie and Fluttershy have some pretty _blue_ blue eyes too. Guess they give you the creeps too?"

"Th'one ah bucked, gosh darnit!" Applejack hissed. "His eyes'r too darn bright. 's almost like they were glowin'."

"You mean Alex?" Rainbow looked over at the aforementioned human, thinking back to the cave. She did remember that he had some pretty... shiny eyes, but she didn't think they were glowing. That could just be normal for humans.

On the other hoof, she didn't remember Dana's eyes being like that.

She shook her head. "Okay, I'll give you that. The dude has some seriously creepy eyes, but that could be normal for him! Why-"

"Rainbow." Applejack started, her face deathly serious. "Ah bucked 'im as hard as Ah could. It was solid, Ah _felt_ it. He didn't even _flinch_."

The pegasus rolled her eyes. "You obviously botched it. He doesn't even look winded."

"It was _solid_, and Ah bucked as _hard as Ah could_. Ah did _not_ botch that there kick."

Rainbow scrutinized her friend, before realizing some important; Applejack was the Element of Honesty. She most certainly was not just saying that to protect her pride.

"...You didn't botch the kick?"

"Nope." Applejack confirmed.

"Not even a little bit?"

The farmpony shook her head. "Nuh-uh."

"...Woah." Was all Rainbow Dash could say as she looked back at Alex with a whole new respect for the guy. The human was built like a twig by pony standards, but apparently looks could be deceiving. She wondered if his sister was the same way. "Dude's tougher than he looks."

"Puttin' it lightly, Rainbow. Sturdier than a mountain's what he is."

Rainbow shook her head. "Still, so what? He has creepy eyes and is tougher than he looks. Why are you so afraid of saying you're sorry!?"

"Ah uh... Ah..." Applejack's brow creased while she tried to think of a reason. "Ah... don't know. I jus' gotta bad feelin' about 'im, Dash."

The pegasus scoffed. "You know who else we all had bad feelings about? Zecora."

Applejack's ears went back as she looked towards her hooves despondently. _Hit the nail on the head with that one_. "Ah... Ah'm sorry. How Ah'm actin' is just shameful."

"I'm not the one you need to say sorry to." Rainbow pointed out.

Applejack could only nod, before she stood up and began walking towards the human siblings.

-0-

Blacklight had been watching and listening to the exchange with mild interest. Their words weren't hushed, but at the distance he and his sister were standing, a normal human would probably only make out a few words.

The virus, not being a normal human whatsoever, could hear everything they said. Most worrisome was their attention to his eyes.

Blacklight easily could have normal human eyes, but he tends to forgo that in his Alex form. The reason being that reflective irises allow him to see better in low light conditions. This combined with the fact that he is immune to permanent ocular damage, meant that he rarely ever changed his eyes to be normal. The reflective 'glow' effect was really only visible in low light conditions.

Low light conditions obviously included the cave that he and Dana met Rainbow Dash properly in. He could guess why 'Applejack' could see the effect as well. Her being much shorter than him combined with the position of the sun meant that during the time she had looked up at him after the buck, he had been casting a shadow over her. This would make his abnormal eye effect very visible, as was clearly witnessed. Earlier, he wouldn't have had to worry about doing so to humans due to none of them being short enough to have him peering down at them whilst providing them with shade, as he generally avoided children and had never even personally seen a dwarf before.

It was clear that the two noticed his eyes, so it was pointless changing them. If he did, it would draw an unnecessary amount suspicion if they noticed the blatant change. Besides, with them apparently knowing nothing of normal human biology, and Dana not understanding a word he speaks to them, he could easily convince them that all human males have eyes as reflective as his.

As for the bad feelings Applejack seemed to hold for him, he wasn't certain if it was just her surprise at his resistance towards her kick or the fact that she could somehow sense him that brought the feelings along. It was impossible to tell, but he figured if he could be detected by them in any sense, he would find that out once they meet more of the ponies.

The kick Applejack delivered would have killed a normal human being, and if the recent turn in her and Rainbow Dash's conversation was anything to go by, she knew that. Once again, he could just assure that all human males are as tough and strong as himself should they ask. Really, Blacklight was surprised that the only wound the orange pony sustained were two sore hooves.

The average human being has enough strength to break their own arms and legs should they flex hard enough. Antagonistic muscle groups prevent this from happening unless there is a severe fight or flight reaction taking place. Applejack had enough force behind her attack to shatter the bones of a creature her size by simply rearing up for the kick, while the delivery should have rendered her legs bloody mush. That was more than enough strength for her to deadlift a car over her head, yet her bones remain unbroken. Impossibly durable, just like her pegasus companion.

Even if Blacklight wasn't stewing in rage, he would still want to consume the equine, if only to satisfy his curiosity as to how it was biologically possible for her to be that strong and durable despite being such a small creature.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Dana asked next to him worriedly. "That looked like it fuckin' hurt."

"I've had worse." Blacklight responded truthfully.

He was, of course, still pissed off at the orange pony. He was just doing a good job of hiding that. Charging in and attacking without thinking could have gotten Dana fatally injured. This meant that Applejack was at the top of his shitlist. Normally, those on Blacklight's shitlist got brutally dispatched as soon as he was able to do so, but the special circumstances had rendered him silent.

It was rather eye opening, however. He never realized his self-control was so... slippery. He had to actively restrain his arms from writhing restlessly at the sight of the redneck equine. His willpower was nearing its breaking point just trying to keep himself from _growling_ like a feral animal.

Alarming, is what it was. Realizing that he wasn't quite as in control as he thought. Hopefully what had transpired would be the only murderous-rage-inducing incident.

Hopefully.

He noticed that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had finished their exchange with a note on someone named 'Zecora', and the former was walking towards him and his sister.

He silently marveled at his ability to repress growling like an angry wolf as she drew near.

"Ah, uh..." She started. He never thought he'd hear Greek uttered in a southern accent. "Ah'm real sorry 'bout buckin yah. Ah wasn't thinkin' an'... can ya forgive me?"

No, not really. He would very much like to tell her that if she ever so much as stood near Dana again, he would beat her to death with her own severed limbs. Even moreso, he would like to do exactly that with no words uttered at all.

"Just don't do it again." He stated in a tone that clearly said that he did not forgive her.

Dana just seemed to be looking at the orange pony with a strange mix of bewilderment and wonder. "She..." She started giggling. "Does she have a southern drawl?"

The pony wears a stetson on her head. Really, the stupid accent should be expected. The only reason she probably wasn't laughing at the hat was probably because the first thing she saw the pony do is kick her brother. She was distracted with worry. Touching, if unnecessary.

Applejack, meanwhile, folded her ears back and absently kicked the dirt beneath her hoof. "Well, uh..." She said. "Ah won't. Do it again, Ah mean." She forces an awkward cough. "Ah'd best let yah go on yer way." She excused herself and began walking away, weaving through the apple trees.

Blacklight idly noticed that the mark on her flank depicted three apples, and she worked on an apple orchard. He wasn't entirely certain what Rainbow Dash's mark meant, but he remembered seeing that every inhabitant of the village save for a few really small ones had a mark on their flank.

He'd have to ask about that at some point.

Rainbow Dash was trotting towards them, wincing every time she put weight on her previously dislocated hoof. "I am SO sorry about her. I had no idea she would react like that!"

"It's fine." He lied. "We aren't going to get any more surprises like that, are we?"

Rainbow scrunched her face. "Well we _shouldn't_ expect anything, but Applejack already surprised me once today. You should probably stick closer to me." She puffed her chest out the best she could in her injured state. "I'll protect you guys." She declared.

God help those in the crossfire should the day come where the Monster of Manhattan needs to be protected from something by a tiny winged equine.

But the pony didn't know that. He'd humor her, of course. Hopefully her close proximity would prevent a second instance of sudden needless assault.

-0-

Somewhere in Ponyville, a pink pony was suddenly overcome with several body spasms.

Blue eyes widened with excitement, said pony zoomed off towards Sweet Apple Acres with inequine speed, an impossibly large grin stretched across her features.

-0-

"That's the town you saw?"

Blacklight, Dana, and Rainbow Dash approached the exit to the property. The borders were marked with white picket fences, the gate marked with an arch and a sign with an apple cut out from it.

"Yes." Blacklight confirmed. "Stay close to m-"

"Hi there!"

Several things happened in less than the span of a second.

Blacklight lost his grip on his food items, sending them tumbling to the ground. There was _something_ right next to his face.

The grey of his right arm's 'hoodie' swirled and a sharpened black tendril formed out of part of his arm, launching itself towards the thing with intent of skewering its head.

The tendril was about four centimeters away from its target's jaw before Blacklight realized that the target is, in fact, a pink pony with an impossibly large grin.

As quick as the tendril had come, he recalled it into himself. It reformed seamlessly back into part of his arm, and all was normal again.

The emergence and withdraw of the tendril happened so fast, that the human eye would have only caught a slight flicker of black movement. Blacklight hoped that no one noticed this.

Dana summarized the situation well shortly after the second had passed.

"Holy shit what the fuck where did she come from!?" Dana shouted, stumbling back from Blacklight and the newcomer.

"My name is Pinkie Pie who're you two are you friends with Dashie are you aliens did you do that big flash what's all that you were carrying do you like parties I like parties I've never met anypony like you are you two related wow your eyes are really pretty-"

Blacklight stared uncomprehendingly at the pink... _thing_ that had appeared next to him while he attempted to make sense of the situation. Judging by the pony's lack of reaction, she hadn't noticed the deadly weapon spear out of his arm towards her before disappearing back into his body. That was good.

Though he was beginning to wish he had just killed and consumed the blabbermouth by reflex out of curiosity alone, because she managed to sneak up on him. Not _once_ had anyone or anything ever snuck up on Blacklight in such a way. His senses were simply far too sharp. Yet somehow this pony managed to even silence her heartbeat while she approached, as all was silent a moment before her voice and a disturbingly loud and fast heartbeat filled his ears.

Either she has some form of heart-slowing technique and stealth skills to rival any human in existence, or she teleported. Blacklight briefly wondered what was happening to him after he realized that he found the second option more believable than the first.

"-and that's how Equestria was made! What's your name?"

The pony was now silent, looking at him with a massive smile and expectant blue eyes. He idly noticed that her head was level with his, and she was supporting herself via two hooves on his right shoulder in a display of considerable upper-body strength. Her mane -a curly dark pink mess- touched his forehead as she leaned in.

"...Alex Mercer." He answered.

She grinned wider, something Blacklight would have considered a physical impossibility should he not have witnessed it in that moment. "It's super-duper nice to meet you mister Mercer! My name is-"

"Pinkie Pie. You said your name before." Blacklight pointed out. Rozie Píta; yet another name some might laugh out loud at should it be directly translated to English.

To this, Pinkie let out an obnoxiously long gasp. "You _heard_ that!? Like, _heard_ heard that!? Wow, you must have super good hearing or really really listen because I always have to repeat myself because I don't talk as fast as I think and I think a lot of words and- ohmygosh!" Blacklight's eyes widened as he watched the pink pony zip with impossible speed in front of his sister, who had been up to that point watching with both an amused and confused expression. She jumped as the pink pony appeared in front of her.

Blacklight struggled to repress the urge to leap forward and tear the mare apart for getting so close to his sister without warning.

"My name is Pinkie Pie who're you are you related to Alex are you his friend will you be my friend do you like parties-"

"She can't understand you. She doesn't speak..." Blacklight bit back a groan. "...Equish."

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened as she turned to the virus. "Oh! My super-duper best friend Twilight could probably use that spell she learned studying under the princess that was always used for foreign meetings and parties and- ohwait!" She spun back to Dana. "Me." She pointed a hoof at herself. "Pinkie Pie! You?" She pointed at Dana.

Dana looked at Blacklight with a questioning look. He helpfully mouthed 'your name' in English.

"Uh," she looked back at Pinkie. "Dana. Dana Mercer." She said as she warily grasped the offered hoof and gave a tentative shake.

"Nice to meet you Miss Uhdaynahdaynah Mercer!" Pinkie said as she erratically shook the offered limb, Dana looking startled at the ferocity of the hand/hoof shake. Blacklight once again had to repress the urge to surge forward and slice off the offending limb. "I've never met aliens before and you're already friends with Dashie and you have a cool but weird name and-" She cut herself off with another exaggerated gasp, letting go of Dana's offered limb as she literally lifted off the ground during the intense gasp.

Blacklight's lips formed a fine line as he yet again repressed the urge to violently consume the pony just for information as to how she so casually breaks the laws of physics.

"I haven't thrown you two a party!" She exclaimed, before she zipped down the road towards Ponyville with impossible speeds that even the inhumanly fast virus could count himself jealous of, leaving a trail of unsettled dust in her wake.

Blacklight stood there, staring at where she had been with various sodas and junk food discarded at his feet. Dana stood there, her hand still out frozen in her pose looking completely befuddled. Rainbow Dash stood where she had been, watching with a look of both helplessness and amusement she had kept up since the beginning of the encounter.

Dana summarized Blacklight's feelings on the situation very well.

-0-

"What the fuck just happened?" Was all Dana could say after having her hand vigorously shaken by a pink... blur. She looked at Alex, as if he had all the answers, only to find him looking off towards the town where the little pony had run to in bewilderment.

That expression of pure confusion would be pretty humorous were it not for the exact same expression marring her features.

Alex shook his head, before leaning over to pick up his dropped cargo. While doing so, he looked at the pegasus and asked a question in that weird fucking ooga-booga language he calls Greek.

Dana still thinks it's fucking ridiculous how Alex just so happens to fucking speak Greek of all things, the language all the little colorful ponies of the gumdrop kingdom apparently speak. She tried not to stop and think about her situation too much; the sheer ridiculousness of it all makes her head hurt.

To recap, in the past month she had survived the fucking zombie apocalypse on steroids, her brother got Hollywood amnesia and superpowers, she'd been hunted by a super-secret organization with more power than the president and a license to kill whoever the fuck they want, and she's gone to the rainbow land of mythical talking ponies, off on a wonderful adventure with her superpowered broody brother.

Dana can't help but feel like it's all a fucked up hallucination and in reality she's just been in a padded room gibbering to herself.

That'd be a shitty plot twist.

Alex, apparently having finished his super-secret Greek conversation with his new pegasus BFF, turned to her as he finished picking up his lost cargo.

"Her name was Rozie Píta. Pinkie Pie, if you want a direct translation." He informed.

Dana looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "'Pinkie'? Greek has a word specifically reserved for fucking 'pinkie'?" She asked incredulously.

"'Roz' means pink." He shrugged, chip bags crinkling slightly. "'Rozie' is just 'roz' with a pronounced IE at the end. So rozie is pinkie."

Dana frowned. "So far I notice that every pony we come across has a name associated with their look. I mean, there's 'Rainbow' over here," She gestured at the pegasus, who watched the exchange with a little annoyance at not being included. "who has rainbow hair. There's 'Pinkie', who is pink, and I don't know who that one who kicked you but I bet she's named Orange Kicker or something like that."

"Apple Hoist, actually." Alex corrected.

"And she had apple tats on her ass!" Dana paused for a second, before giggling. "Wait, seriously? The fucking southern-accented Greek pony with a cowboy hat is named 'Apple Hoist'?"

"Mí̱loanýpso̱si̱ roughly translates to that, yes." Her brother shrugged again. "It could also translate to Apple Lift, Apple Heft, Apple Upraise, and Apple Jack. It's complicated."

Dana just stared. _Fucking weird alien horse names. _"So how about for simplicity's sake we just call her Applejack?" She grimaced. "Also, Milo-ani-pizozy? Christ, that's a fucking mouthful."

Rainbow Dash spoke up, looking confused. She was probably wondering why she kept hearing her friend's name mentioned. Alex gibbered something back, before turning to Dana. "Apparently 'Pinkie' is going to throw us a party at some point. A surprise party, most likely. Try not to instinctively punch anything in the face when we get ambushed." He warned.

"You're one to talk. I'm not the guy who decided red is a good color to redecorate our fucking apartment with." She deadpanned.

"Uh," Alex began with that awkward 'I don't know what to look at so I'll just look straight at the bags I'm carrying' look. "it would probably be a brown-ish color by now."

Dana decided not to grace him with a response.

-0-

"...Pinkie?" Twilight asked slowly.

"Yeperoonie?" Pinkie asked, still speeding around the building with impossible speeds leaving bright colorful decorations in her wake.

"Why are you decorating the library?"

"No time to explain!" She shouted, not pausing for a second. "Two somebodies are coming to Ponyville right now and I need a super-ultra-fast-surprise-party stat! No time to bake fresh need emergency ice cream cake and pre-mix punch and my party cannon needs to be reloaded and everypony needs to be in position in ten minutes or-" She suddenly gasped, before speeding right up to Twilight's face.

To her credit, she didn't flinch.

"Ohmygosh! I didn't send invitations! I need to go Twilight! Hold the fort!"

"Pinkie, what two 'somebodies'? Why specifically the library? What-"

Pinkie was already out the door.

Twilight frowned.

"Who throws a party in a library?" She mumbled to herself, remembering that this was the second time Pinkie had chosen to make inappropriate use of her reading sanctuary and home. She shook her head. She supposed that Pinkie always cleaned up the mess, so there's no reason for Twilight to deny a party. She would have appreciated being asked first, though. She walked towards the entrance of her library, and looked back at the banner hanging from the ceiling.

'Welcome to Ponyville Alex Mercer and Uhdaynadayna Mercer' it read.

"'Uh-day-nah-day-nah Mer-sir.'" Twilight read aloud. "That sounds... exotic." She mused.


	7. Welcoming

Instinct was something shared by most natural living beings. A tiger knows how to pounce. A dog knows to roll onto its back to show submission. A cat knows to bury its waste. Nothing teaches these creatures to react or act as they do; they simply know. Instinct is hardwired into one's brain. A comparison would be akin to a computer's core programming; incomplete but capable of functioning.

Blacklight is not a natural being and does not have a brain that functions anywhere close to that of any creature on Earth. An average virus has no instinct; it simply is. It floats about and injects a cell with RNA and DNA in order to replicate. A virus has so little action or existence beyond simply _being_, that it is heavily debated whether or not a virus should even be considered a living being, let alone something capable of instinct.

But Blacklight is no ordinary virus.

Everything Blacklight is, is stolen. Everything from his form, to his dawning moments of sapience. This included instinct.

Blacklight's stolen instincts were telling him something was wrong with the picture before him.

The crowds of little equines meandering about had slowly and subtly dispersed while he and his entourage came closer, like a mirage. Now, within the town of 'Ponyville', there was not a living being in sight. Not even birds saw fit to chirp.

The town was certainly not a big one, but Blacklight found it hard to believe that an entire population could just disappear before his eyes, and one as sharp as he not notice it until there were practically none left.

"...This is a ghost town. Did we scare everyone off?"

His sister raised a good point, but Blacklight felt another answer was correct.

The pink quantum anomaly being at fault somehow seemed more likely. The complete lack of alarm or concern on their garishly colored companion also gave a clue as to how common this kind of thing was. She did warn the Mercer siblings to be prepared for a surprise, but Blacklight most certainly did not expect the surprise to be happening within the next couple of minutes.

"Doubtful." Blacklight finally replied to his sister. "They would have to actually see us to be scared by us."

Dana shrugged. "Or maybe they all have telescopic vision. Or could sense your incoming broodiness."

Blacklight looked at his sister with a slightly miffed expression. "I don't brood." He insisted.

Dana scoffed. "You do too brood. Like, fucking eighty percent of your existence is spent thinking deeply with a big frown on your face. You have shape-changey superpowers. Can't you shapeshift your face into a smile a little more often than once every blue moon?"

Thinking back, Blacklight deduced a few things. One; he did indeed brood. Quite often, actually. Two; he doesn't smile very often either. Three; he hasn't technically lived through a blue moon yet.

It took Blacklight a moment to realize he was brooding over how often he broods.

"...I smiled yesterday." Blacklight weakly argued.

"And you haven't smiled once today. Seriously, even while speaking Greek to a fucking pegasus you had this depressingly neutral expression." She put a finger to her chin in thought. "...You'd be great at poker, though."

The virus frowned, before turning his head towards his sister and putting on his best smile. Her disturbed expression was quite demoralizing.

"Wow, you look really creepy when you force it like that."

Just like that, Blacklight was frowning again.

One would think that faking a smile would be child's play to Blacklight. This is true in literally any other form except for the form of Alex Mercer. While for every other person he consumed he had a library's wealth of information for every single expression and mannerism they made while under the influence of genuine emotions, Alex Mercer drew up a blank, forcing Blacklight to fill in the blanks with his own personality.

As it turns out, the face of Alex Mercer was never a very happy face.

Blacklight had smiled before in a 'non-creepy' way, but that was a genuine reaction due to positive emotion.

He hadn't thought too hard on it before, but the idea that he could involuntarily react with a genuine smile when he was happy drew him in a more human and relatable light than he was used to. Then he remembered all of the times he ruthlessly devoured people alive without any hint of remorse and quickly quashed that line of thought.

"Well, here we are!" Rainbow Dash said, finding her voice for the first time since they entered the town. Blacklight peered around his cargo and found himself looking at a large tree with cartoonish doors and windows sticking out of it. The front door had two small doors as a bottom half and one big door as a top half with a candle sticking out of it. Even Blacklight had trouble wrapping his considerable head around why such a design would be necessary, even to little equines. Really, why equines would have doors so similar to human design in the first place baffled him. Do they turn the nobs with their mouths?

From the sheer amount of heartbeats he heard from the other side of the door, the virus quickly deduced where the population of the town resides. Blacklight raised an eyebrow at the number of heartbeats managing to fit within such a small building. A quick flick into the thermal spectrum revealed a very large amount of orange blobs within the tree building. Squeezed together, yet oddly spacious.

He would have preferred to slowly integrate himself and his sister into the town to avoid mass panic, or ideally avoid being noticed in the town altogether. Now it would seem that 'Pinkie Pie' believed that the best way to remove a Band-Aid is to rip it off violently.

Blacklight steeled himself, deliberately stepped protectively in front of Dana, and awkwardly reached a hand out to open the door as his other hand balanced the food and drink.

"SURPRISE!"

It was amazing, Blacklight noted, how fast the range of expression can be cycled through on these strange equines. Elation and curiosity turned to confusion and fear very quickly.

-0-

Twilight considers herself a logical individual. She can usually put pieces of a puzzle together rather quickly, but one did not need to be a genius to figure out that the new arrivals were not ponies.

Pinkie Pie had oddly insistent vocabulary when it came to the two mystery guests. 'Anybody' and 'somebody' and the like were terms used to either describe non-ponies or a population that consists of multiple species with or without ponies. It might seem egotistical, but Equish was originally conceived far back before even the Great Unification, and the ponies were very isolated back then, most believing that ponies were the only sapients on the planet.

The insistent terminology and the exotic names pointed to non-ponies. That is, unless Pinkie was attempting to surprise everypony by the two guests actually just being ponies and everything she was subtly hinting at was an elaborate ruse to get her slightly confused upon the guests' arrival, which honestly wouldn't surprise her.

As expected, most of the town showed up for the party. Regardless of the subject of the celebration, if one was invited to a Pinkie Pie party, one usually goes. At least in a small town like Ponyville. Granted, many didn't appear, but it sure didn't look that way from Twilight's perspective. The only no-showers Twilight knew personally were Applejack and Fluttershy, the former probably busy and the latter either busy as well or simply opting out of the event out of nervousness. Twilight recalled Fluttershy appearing at her own welcome party, but that might have been because of the Summer Sun Celebration... or Spike.

All that was left for Twilight to figure out before the new arrivals... well, arrived, was their species. Sure, she could wait, but where was the fun in that? It was always good to exercise one's deductive reasoning.

Alex sounded like it was short for something. She might have considered it a pony name were it not for the addition of the vaguely Prench-sounding 'Mercer' that comes after. She found it quite odd that this... 'Uhdaynahdaynah' shared this second name. While second names weren't rare among ponies (her name is Twilight Sparkle, for Celestia's sake), sharing them was often considered a sign of marriage, and even that was rather rare among couples. Mr. and Mrs. Cake being one of the very few examples.

The oddity of 'Uhdaynahdaynah' Mercer's name led Twilight to believe that either Pinkie is pulling a joke or misunderstood the speaker. Attempting to pick apart the name, Twilight found some similarities to a popular name from parts of Saddle Arabia and its neighboring lands.

All of this, coupled with the fact that Pinkie seemed set on putting all the decorations in particularly high places, drew a clear picture in Twilight's head.

The guests were a married horse couple perhaps originating from somewhere near Saddle Arabia. Really the reason Twilight made that leap was because of the decoration height. The only species' she knows are that tall are diamond dogs, which are highly unlikely to have the names described, or Saddle Arabian horses, of which the average member of the race is as tall as Celestia herself.

The lights were out, and everypony was in position. Twilight heard muffled voices just outside the door.

She prepared for a moment of private satisfaction and smugness in her deductive skills.

She was very swiftly disappointed and confused.

"SURPIRSE!" She called with everypony else as the door swung open. The very first thing she noticed about the first individual to travel through the doorway were the eyes which, seeing as the rest of the creature that arrived was a downright oddity and carrying snack foods that nopony has ever seen before, was pretty impressive.

Cold, steely blue scanned the suddenly quiet audience in front of it. They snapped from pony to pony is a methodical, mechanical fashion as if they were cataloguing all they saw. In the split second the intense gaze snapped to her, Twilight felt very... exposed. Like this being could see all of her and through her at the same time. It sent shivers down her spine.

But just like every other pony in the room, she kept its interest for much less than a second before its spotlight-like gaze drifted to another. She was so distracted by this that she barely noticed an injured Rainbow Dash shouldering past the newcomer's leg, offering a nervous smile to the crowd. Twilight also noticed another being like the newcomer, seeming content to hunch behind the taller one.

Rainbow Dash cleared her throat.

"So!" She began, ignoring the shocked outcries at her roughed-up appearance. Twilight's eyes creased with worry at the sorry state of her coat. None of it looked crippling or fatal, but infection is a serious concern. "Err, these are my new friends! This is Alex Mercer," 'Alex' nodded in response, his expression as neutral as ever. "and this is Dana Mercer." The smaller one behind Alex shyly waved and smiled. This appeared to put a lot of ponies at ease, though many still looked ready to jump out the nearest window.

Also Twilight didn't miss that 'Uhdaynahdayna' was actually just 'Dana'. Which is good, as saying Dana is much easier and less tiresome than the alternative, which to be honest would have gotten old very quickly. Not to insult anypony with long names, it's just that Twilight believed that short or shortened names are optimal for social conduct.

Seeing the persisting unease surrounding the guests, Rainbow decided to continue. "I, ah, met these two after I got in a nasty crash in Everfree, and they fixed my wing and made sure no animals got me!" She put on a big, toothy smile.

All was quiet for a few moments.

Twilight, and she was sure a few other ponies, could hear Dash ground out "Say something!" through clenched teeth.

Alex's eyes flicked down at her friend, and back at his audience.

"...Hello." He said in a deep male voice.

Nopony said or did anything.

Rainbow Dash loudly cleared her throat.

"_Well_, Dana and Alex are kind of shy..." she explained sheepishly. "...and, uh, Dana here doesn't even speak Equish, so if you want to talk to her you're gonna have to use Alex as a translator."

Silence reigned yet again.

"So... yeah." Rainbow deflated.

Twilight was about to ask what species the two were when Pinkie Pie decided it was time to make an appearance.

"LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!" She practically screeched, Twilight seeing a pink ball of fluff that is her hair bounce excitedly somewhere in the assembled crowd.

Suddenly upbeat music started playing (Twilight swore there was no record player in the building earlier), and the ponies nervously began to mingle. The two guests of honor took that moment to argue to each other quietly in their own language.

She wondered what they were saying...

-0-

"What the shit was with that fucking glare you gave everyone when we came in?"

"That wasn't a glare."

"The hell it wasn't a glare! Shit, that gave me the shivers and you weren't even looking at me! What the fuck!"

"I was _inspecting_ them."

"Inspecting _what_!? Their souls? How tasty they are? Good fucking Christ I've seen friendlier looks from grizzly bears! Hell, Alex can you just _not_ look scary for one day? Fuck, for one _hour_!?"

"...I could try smiling-"

"No, no no no, no, no. Just... no. Try to... try to look clueless. Clueless intimidating people are cute."

"...Really?"

"I don't know, Alex! Just... don't _glare_ at anyone. Don't brood. Don't swear in Greek. Don't-"

"Dana, I understand basic social etiquette."

"Then why am I not feeling confident right now?"

Blacklight frowned. While the ponies looked innocent enough, he supposed he may have slipped into what Dana would probably call 'big brother mode' while they faced the 'surprise'. After all, it is a building filled with very strong and durable equines with unknown abilities and motives. Of course Blacklight was going to go in there first and examine any potential threats.

...But he supposed his gaze may have been a bit too intense, if some of the reactions the locals had were any indication.

Blacklight decided it would be best to attempt to cool his sister's rage. "...Are you hungry? I'm still carrying this-"

"Just give me a fucking Dr. Pepper."

Blacklight frowned, and looked at the selection in his arms. "...Cherry or regular?"

"Regular. Cherry's good on its own but is crap with food. Speaking of; Doritos. Where are they?"

"Right here." He gestured vaguely towards the bottom of the pile of snacks in his arms.

Dana swiped it out from underneath several other items. "...Thanks. Now drop that shit and go mingle or something!"

_...Mingle?_ The weapon of mass destruction looked warily at the crowd of ponies, which appeared to be attempting to act normal in their presence. Most of them were still clearly unnerved.

Outside of a role to play, Blacklight was the opposite of a social butterfly. He struggles to make conversation with his sister, let alone random strangers. Really, he never casually spoke to anyone besides Dana, and she always was the instigator of the conversation. Despite all of the charismatic people in his head constantly feeding him information on tact and charm, Blacklight still drew a blank on how exactly to start a conversation with a small equine.

But there was another, more pressing issue.

"Dana, you can't speak Greek." Blacklight pointed out as he placed the assorted food items he took from the ruined apartment on a nearby table.

Dana, her soda held under arm, ripped the top of her chip bag open with a pop. "Yeah, most people can't. Unless they're Greek."

"As in you can't understand what they're saying, and they can't understand you."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow as she put the open bag on the same table as the other snack foods, and retrieved her soda from underneath her arm.

Blacklight would have groaned if he wasn't certain the already skittish locals wouldn't mistake it for a feral growl. "...You can't talk to anyone without me to translate."

With a snap and a hiss, the soda was open. "...Ooh. Don't worry about that Alex, I'll just gesture my point." She smirked.

The virus blinked. "But-"

"Alex, I've had a very strange day. Having you translate everything they say and vice versa sounds like a massive pain in the ass and not worth it. I know you're just using this as an excuse to stay close to me." She deadpanned and sipped her newly opened beverage.

Blacklight blinked. Were his motives really _that_ transparent? He frowned as he found in hindsight that yes they were. "I'm not-"

"I also know that it's because you don't trust these cute little ponies, which is both fucking hilarious and sad."

"Of course I-"

"Even if they end up being eldritch horrors in disguise," Blacklight internally winced at how accurate that was at describing himself. "you could swoop in and save the day with your freaky super virus powers."

_But you could already be dead by then!_ He wanted to scream. He saw ponies moving things with their minds. He saw Rainbow Dash fly at impossible speeds before surviving a crash that should have flattened her. One of them can move too quickly for the human eye to follow. Dana _already_ came close to death once that day via a kick that could crumple a bodybuilder! There's no telling what else they could do. "You're underestimating them." He pointed out.

"You're too fucking paranoid. Just look at them Alex." She vaguely gestured at the crowd that was trying and failing to look like they don't notice or fear the two aliens in the room. "You walked into the room and almost made them all collectively shit themselves with a _look_. I don't think we have to worry about anything that easily intimidated going psycho on us."

Blacklight narrowed his eyes unperceptively as he looked back at the crowd of nervous chattering ponies. Their intimidation could be means of luring them into a false sense of secu-

"And don't you fucking dare pull the 'it's all an act' breed of paranoia on me right now."

This time Blacklight didn't bother suppressing his groan, startling away a mint green mare who had finally gotten enough courage to approach the two of them. "Dana, we're dealing with a lot of unknowns here." _If I could consume one, just one of them..._

"You know a good way to make unknowns knowns?" Dana asked rhetorically. "Talk," She put her soda down and grabbed him by the shoulders. "to," She turned him around. "people." She shoved him ineffectually, but Blacklight moved forward despite the pitiful strength.

Looking much like a disciplined dog, Blacklight sullenly reevaluated the situation he found himself in.

He was inside of a library, which was decorated with many bright pink white and purple decorations as if it were a four-year-old's birthday party. A white banner with big, bolded purple Greek letters welcomed Alex Mercer and a literary mess that vaguely spelled out Dana Mercer at the end. White, plastic-looking tables were set up all around the open space of the library, many holding things such as punch bowls or pastry platters. He noted a distinct lack of chairs, but dismissed it quickly seeing as if equines were to sit down, the most they would need is a cushion. The ponies segregated themselves into medium to large groups all around the library, some talking a little too loudly about the nice weather, others speaking in hush about 'flashes', 'monsters', 'everfree', and, 'horrific fashion sense' in one instance.

The whole scene struck many chords in Blacklight. It all seemed too bright and happy. Too... _innocent_. He felt like he was sitting in the middle of a child's wonderland, and that set off alarm bells. He felt as if any minute now they were all going to open their mouths and show spinning rows of teeth, or suddenly transform into infected Hunters.

It was making him twitchy. But none of that bothered him more than being... ignorant. He looked around the room, and spotted all different kinds of equine. He could make many educated guesses on the stress level of their bones, the location of major arteries and organs, and the general workings of their biology, but he didn't know for _sure_. The pegasi completely eluded him, the Applejack mare's strength completely eluded him, and the-

Blacklight tensed and almost lashed out at the subtle purple aura that suddenly contained a floating notebook on the other side of the room. He gazed at the glowing notebook, and at the unicorn whose horn was glowing with the same aura.

He didn't understand that. At all.

That _really_ bugged him. Once again monster thoughts forced their way to the forefront of his mind, wondering if there was a way to get this purple specimen away from prying eyes just for a moment, calculating how much force it might take to snap the pony's neck and how quickly the consumption process would need to be sped in order to prevent the spillage of blood.

He imagined himself sprouting his claws and carving a bloody swathe through the crowds before him, consuming as much as possible. He imagined allowing tendrils to sprout from his body and spear everything save his sister in the building. Oh, how he itched just to get one of them, to take them apart and see what made them _tick_ so the feeling of imminent danger would leave his head. How much he wanted to slaughter all of these potential threats.

But Dana didn't need to see him carve up and eat a building full of cute, big-eyed pastel colored ponies. Also, despite his confidence that he could probably kill and consume one without being seen, a small town would notice a missing resident and connect that to their newest guests.

He had to control himself. Not killing everything that isn't human in the room was becoming quite like trying not to scratch a particularly bothersome mosquito bite.

Then, Blacklight had an epiphany. Distracted as he was with thoughts of maiming the current populace of cute animals and his lack of knowledge, he didn't pay mind to one important detail.

He was standing in a library.

It wasn't often that a sapient mass of biological matter infected with a virus with an uncanny ability to sow mass chaos and destruction felt human, but even more especially rare were the moments when said viral weapon of mass destruction felt like a particularly _stupid_ human.

Before Blacklight could channel his antisocial creator and scurry off into a corner to read during the party, he noticed the purple unicorn from before approaching him, a levitating notepad and... quill in tow. The unicorn appeared female, a straight cut indigo mane and tail with a single violet and pink stripe (natural? unlikely). Her (also purple) eyes had that 'I want to ask you a lot of annoying questions' look to them. He idly noted that her flank-mark (one of which every pony in the room seemed to possess) was of a pink star surrounded by five smaller white stars.

Blacklight silently cycled through several potential conversation evaders.

"_Excuse me."_

"_Not right now."_

"_I'm busy."_

"_No."_

"_Don't talk to me."_

"_Go away."_

"_Fuck off."_

"_Open your mouth and I will tear your spine out and beat your next of kin to death with it."_

Before he could properly choose which one to use, he remembered what Dana said.

"_You know a good way to make unknowns knowns? Talk to people."_

Blacklight internally sighed, attempted to look as friendly as possible (he most likely failed at that), and decided to follow his sister's wishes.

-0-

Twilight glanced around her library with a little disappointment. The party-goers were trying very hard to look and act normal, but nopony had even approached the two guests of honor. Lyra tried, but appeared to have lost her nerve before she even got close to the pair.

Now the male -Alex, his name was- was pushed by Dana towards some of the bustling ponies, and she watched with no small amount of empathy as he looked around the room in a rather clueless manner. She now understood what Rainbow had meant by shy; he clearly didn't know what to do with himself.

Dana, on the other hoof, simply sat back and ate some... strange looking snack foods she had never seen before. Nopony made an approached towards her either, though Twilight could understand seeing as Dana wouldn't even be able to understand anypony talking to her.

Alex though... she did admit he was intimidating. That chilling glare he gave everypony upon entering the building had conveyed that rather thoroughly. But Twilight felt something was... off about the individual in front of her. She couldn't fathom what it was, and she was pretty sure that despite everypony's avoidance of him, she was the only one who noticed.

His eyes were simply too intense and they never seemed to lose focus or simply space out. He blinked, but sometimes it felt like he didn't for far too long. The fact that he stood there without fidgeting, losing balance, or even slightly moving except for his head swiveling around the room like a sentry. Everything about him spoke of somepony who was... not necessarily afraid, but wary of their surroundings in an usually acute manner.

At first she figured that was just his species' norm, but after a few observations of his female counterpart, she realized that it wasn't the case. Dana seemed more relaxed, more... _natural_. Alex seemed like a coiled snake ready to strike.

Twilight frowned with sympathy. Alex must have some very severe anxiety issues. It was like a larger, gruffer, more intimidating male version of Fluttershy. She looked around, and found to her dismay that still nopony was coming forward to speak to him or even acknowledge him beyond glancing in his direction when non-too-subtly speculating in gossip. Even Rainbow Dash was away, speaking to some of her weather pony friends with as many gesticulations her grounded body could provide, probably telling a highly exaggerated version of how she got into Everfree forest and discovered Alex and Dana in the first place.

After a moment of silently judging everypony in the room, Twilight flushed with shame realizing the hypocrisy of her thoughts. She hadn't approached either of them either. She was an Element of Harmony too!

Twilight gained a look of determination. _Nopony will be alienated in the presence of __**this**__ student of friendship._

As she telekinetically summoned a quill, inkwell, and paper, she reassured herself that the only reason behind her approaching Alex Mercer was to cure his obvious loneliness. It most certainly was not because she can't remember ever reading about a species quite like Alex's and he could probably satisfy her curiosity with a few questions. Though, admittedly, that was a bonus.

Twilight silently praised herself for not outwardly reacting to the eternally sharp near-unblinking stare Alex gave her as she approached. Not once during her approach did something else catch his attention; it was as if everything in the world except for her stopped existing.

She stopped what she deemed was an appropriate distance from the male, and cleared her throat. It had been a while since she had to introduce herself to somepony, what with living in a small town. She never had any issues with greetings before, but the person in front of her is, to be perfectly honest, _really bucking intimidating_. She felt like every word she was soon to speak would be closely analyzed and deconstructed. She swore she hadn't been this hesitant to introduce herself since meeting Princess Celestia for the first time!

"Hi!" She began. Friendly, informal, but not _too_ informal. Good start. "My name is Twilight Sparkle." She introduced.

It was a good two seconds of wondering if she said something wrong or if he understood her before a terse reply was given.

"...Charmed."

The large male never broke eye contact. Twilight found herself averting her gaze, before internally smacking herself for being rude. What if he thought she found him ugly? Maybe a little sickly; she found herself wondering if whatever his species was are supposed to be that pale. Perhaps the paleness was a sign of age; that could also explain the dark wrinkles under his eyes, which almost gave the illusion of one perpetually tired if not for the sheer intensity the eyes themselves showed.

Twilight mentally cycled through potential subjects to bring up in order to keep the conversation rolling. She figured the basics would do first.

"So I was just curious about what species you are. I mean, I've never read about your kind and-"

"My sister and I are human." Alex cut off a little rudely.

The inquisitive unicorn's eyes widened as she scribbled down the word 'human' on her paper. "Sister? Oh, I thought you two were married." She grinned sheepishly.

Alex raised an eyebrow ever so slightly. "What gave you that impression?"

"Well," Twilight unconsciously entered 'lecture mode'. "the assimilation of a second name used to be a really popular display of affection and marriage around a century ago. It's less common now but it still happens. I guess I shouldn't have made the assumption that your culture was similar to ours." She chuckled awkwardly. "Do humans share names with family?"

The human seemed to have a brief internal debate before answering. "In most human cultures, yes."

Twilight never stopped paying attention for a moment as she scribbled everything he said down. She pressed on. "'Most cultures'? How many different human cultures are there?" Most species in the world tended to have their own isolated culture that rarely deviated between other members of their species. The idea of a race having many cultures was a little bewildering.

"Too many to accurately count."

Twilight's eyes widened. That sounds fascinating but... so many cultures forming would mean that many humans are not a part of the same group. That has some rather depressing implications. "That sounds really strange, but also interesting! Are humans really that segregated, though?" She asked with concern.

Alex never once changed his expression save for the fateful 'eyebrow lift' several seconds ago. Yet somehow the neutral stare he gave her felt more meaningful in his silence.

"Yes." He answered, but failed to elaborate.

"Oh." Twilight said, slightly dejected. "That sounds... depressing." She chuckled nervously. "But if humans live so uniquely, how come I haven't read about your kind yet? Where exactly are humans from?"

To this, Alex remained quiet for some time. He glanced behind him, to see his sister nodding and smiling to Lyra Heartstrings who was chatting to her. It was very clear to Twilight that Dana has no idea what the unicorn is saying even if she wasn't informed of the language barrier. Hers were the reactions somepony would have to a foal speaking gibberish.

Without turning, Alex spoke again. "Your friend Rainbow Dash mentioned a... 'big flash' that came from Everfree Forest a couple of days ago."

Twilight's eyes widened as her train of thought was thoroughly derailed. Suddenly everything about the Everfree Flash came back to her. The animal behavior, the strange roars heard from the forest, Fluttershy's encounter with the strange bipedal-

Twilight's gaze snapped back and forth between Alex and Dana, attempting to see anything... bug-like on them. Neither had chitins or tentacles as far as she could see, and neither had that strange symbol on their backs...

No, neither of them were the mystery creature that spooked all of Fluttershy's animals. But... nopony knew what the flash did. She had never seen a human before, and a day after this massive flash suddenly the very first human she had ever seen appears? The implications... what if the flash was-

"I theorize that my sister and I are from another world altogether." Alex stated as if it were the most common thing in the world.

Twilight gaped at the man. "You're an _alien_!?"

A comical 'screech' of a record suddenly filled the room, and everypony froze. They all looked towards Alex and Twilight, some casting wary glances at even Dana.

Alex... didn't seem to physically tense, but it was as if the air around him suddenly felt tighter. His expression looked mildly annoyed, but his eyes had an intensity to them like when he first entered the building. Everything about him felt like he was some kind of incredibly dangerous animal seconds from being spooked into action.

"If I'm correct..." the man began, his eyes never leaving his sister's position, who was looking at the situation curiously. "...that is an appropriate description."

Everypony's reaction was immediate.


End file.
